CHAMAN: Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, Senator Sirajul Haq, has called upon the government to immediately open the Pak-Afghan Friendship gate to facilitate trade and the movement of the people on both sides.
Addressing a big public meeting here on Monday, he said that Pakistan had no option except friendship with Afghanistan for foiling India’s designs.
Sirajul Haq said that most of the Balochistan people were traders as there were no factories in the province. He said that thousands of people, including respectable women, on both sides of the border crossed over to the other side daily for trade and jobs. Due to the closure of the gate, they had been lining up on both sides awaiting its opening.
The JI chief said that the Pak- Afghan border was not like the Indo- Pak border. The Pak- India border was an ideological barrier whereas the Pak- Afghan border was simply for administrative purposes. He said that Pakistan had ideological differences with India but Pakistan and Afghanistan were linked through the everlasting bond of Islam.
Sirajul Haq said that the opening of the Pak- Afghan friendship gate was essential for ending misgivings on both sides and also to foil India’s conspiracies in the region.
He said that Chaman was a frit growing area and most of the people here were associated with the trade of fruits and vegetables. He said that due to the closure of the gate, hundreds of trucks loaded with fruit, vegetables and other food items were lining up on both sides of the border for the last twelve days and the loaded items were rotting, causing heavy losses.
He said the closure of the Friendship gate had added to the deprivations of the Balochistan people but the government and the security agencies were not giving any thought to the issue. He stressed upon the Interior Minister to immediately attend to the issue.
Speaking on corruption, the JI chief said that the attitude of the Prime Minister was the main hurdle in Panama leaks probe. He said that as the Panama leaks issue was being dragged longer, the public demand for ruthless accountability was getting stronger. He said that as and when there was demand for accountability, the ruling elite would shout that democracy was in danger.
He said that the ruling junta was the main obstacle in the supremacy of the law and the constitution because it was afraid it would be the first to fall in the grip of the law.
