Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan. Photo: Express
TIMERGARA:
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday said governance in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, just like at the federal level, has been reduced to slogans, lamenting that citizens continue to be deprived of basic services despite more than a decade of uninterrupted one-party rule.
Addressing a public rally titled ‘Badal Do Nizam’ (Change the System) at Dir Stadium in Upper Dir, he said that even after 14 years of rule of the same party, people of the province still do not have access to healthcare, education and basic rights.
He lambasted the outsourcing of public schools, calling it a “clear admission of failure” instead of improving the public education system.
He said the country had been saddled with a heavy debt burden, saying the national debt had risen from 55 trillion rupees to 85 trillion rupees in just four years, while “leaders are taking out nearly 20 billion rupees in new loans every day” as the public grapples with inflation and economic hardship.
The JI leader said the public had been misled for 79 years by slogans and symbols, while the bureaucracy continued to operate under a colonial-era system that treated citizens as subjects.
He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab governments were extensions of each other, adding that outsourcing of public educational institutions amounted to an admission of failure of governance.
He promised that if brought to power, Jamaat-e-Islami would abolish the dual education system that separates the rich and the poor, and ensure that women receive their rightful share of inheritance.
Inviting PTI workers to join his party’s movement, he said Jamaat-e-Islami would build a national base of five million members and establish 50,000 public committees to uproot “an unjust system”.
Former provincial minister and JI KP North chief Inayatullah Khan, party deputy emir Maulana Dr Ataur Rehman, former MP Sahibzada Tariqullah and senior JI emir Sahibzada Faseehullah also addressed the rally.
