Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. Photo: Express
TIMER GARA:
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday said that governance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, like at the federal level, had been reduced to slogans and lamented that citizens continue to be deprived of basic services despite more than a decade of uninterrupted rule by a single party.
Addressing a public gathering titled “Badal Do Nizam” (Change the System) at Dir Stadium in Upper Dir, he said that even after 14 years of the same party in power, people in the province still lack access to healthcare, education and basic rights.
He criticized the outsourcing of public schools, calling it “a clear admission of failure” rather than improving the public education system.
He said the country had been squeezed under a heavy debt burden, claiming the national debt had risen from Rs 55 trillion to Rs 85 trillion in just four years, while “rulers take almost Rs 20 billion in new loans every day” while the public grapples with inflation and economic hardship.
The JI chief said the public had been misled for 79 years through slogans and symbolism while the bureaucracy continued to operate on a colonial system treating citizens as subjects.
He said the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab were extensions of each other, adding that outsourcing of public educational institutions amounted to an admission of government failure.
He promised that Jamaat-e-Islami would abolish the dual education system that separates rich and poor and ensure that women get their rightful share of inheritance.
He invited PTI workers to join his party’s movement and said Jamaat-e-Islami would build a nationwide base of five million members and establish 50,000 public committees to remove “an unjust system”.
The meeting was also addressed by former provincial minister and JI KP North chief Inayatullah Khan, party vice-emir Maulana Dr. Ataur Rehman, former MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah and JI Upper Dir-emir Sahibzada Faseehullah.
