LAHORE - Pakistani nation and the armed forces are on the same page against India, Senator Sirajul Haq said yesterday while taking on the government over the serious matter of corruption and lack of will against resolving the Panama Papers issue.

“Pakistan will give a befitting response to any aggression from across the border, which would end up in the emergence of several new ‘Pakistans’ within India,” the JI chief said while addressing a news conference at Mansoora yesterday.

Flanked by the central leaders of the party, Sirajul Haq said the JI Shoora in its meeting pledged to defend the homeland till their last breath and the last drop of blood in their veins.

The Jamaat-e-Islami chief although held that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had presented the Kashmir issue at the UN in accordance with the sentiments of the nation. However, he said, there was need for practical steps in the same direction.

Pointing out a series of ‘cracks’ in PM’s address to UNGA in New York, Siraj said he had been expecting that the Prime Minister would take up the issue of Modi’s meddling in Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and the executions of JI leaders in Bangladesh in violation of the 1974 agreement between Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. However, this was not done, he regretted.

Similarly, he said, the PM did not raise the issue of Dr Aafia Siddiqui or even RAW agent Kalbushan Yadav who was arrested by the Pakistani security agencies from Balochistan.

The JI amir further noted that US President Obama had not mentioned the Kashmir issue in his address to the UN General Assembly which reflected the weakness of Pakistani diplomacy. He said it seemed the government had not made preparations on this score at the international and diplomatic fronts.

The JI Shoora also reviewed the rulers’ indifference on the issues of Panama leaks, Siraj said. “If the government does not constitute an independent judicial Commission for equity into the matter and the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif does not present himself for accountability, the only option with the opposition will be to hold public protests,” he told the media.

He said the JI would continue its drive against corruption within the courts and outside. The party is going to hold a mass rally at Faisalabad on September 30, the same day Imran Khan is due to lead a PTI rally towards Raiwind.

Siraj also informed the media that the opposition parties would present a common line of action against corruption in the first week of October.