BAHAWALPUR - Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Senator Sirajul Haq has called for restoration of Bahawalpur province to remove the backwardness of the region and to improve the living standard of the millions of the people of the area. “The princely state was one of the largest and richest states of British India. The nawab and people of the area had made the great contribution in form of wealth and resources to support Pakistan at time of its creation but the area saw a gradual decline in coming years and situation has reached to the level that now millions of the people are even deprived of the basic facilities of health, education and clean drinking water,” he said while addressing a huge public gathering here on Friday. He, earlier, led an anti-inflation march from Lodhran to Bahawalpur. The rally was the continuation of the JI ongoing protest movement against inflation and unemployment and other anti-people policies of the PTI government. The JI chief held the former and present rulers responsible for the plight of the masses, saying the elite ruling over the country for decades did nothing for the welfare of the public rather multiplied their own wealth by looting the resources of the country. The PTI and the PDM, he said, was continuously befooling the masses and their fight was only for serving self-interest. Both sides, he added, enjoyed power with the support of the establishment and they were anxiously seeking for the same now. But, he made it clear that the people of Pakistan fully recognized the corrupt practices of the ruling elite and they were no more ready to trust the PTI, the PML-N and the PPP. The fair and transparent elections were the only way to move ahead and the establishment should strictly stay away from the politics, he said, adding the days of the waderas, feudal lords and those status quo parties who tricked the public were numbered now.
The future of Pakistan, he said, belonged to clean politics and true democracy. He appealed to the people of Bahawalpur to vote for the JI in the next election if they wanted to resolve their problems and put the country on track.
A large number of farmers from Chulistan were also among the participants of the rally. The JI chief assured them that no one could grab their lands in the name of so-called development schemes.
JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim, JI Deputy Emir Liaqat Baloch, JI Southern Punjab chapter Emir Rao Zafar, JI Information Secretary Qaisar Sharif were also present on occasion.