LAHORE: Jamaat e Islami (JI) Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq called upon the government to allow the IDPs to return to their homes before the holy month of Ramadhan, and make necessary arrangements to this end. He was addressing a press conference at Al-Markaz Peshawar at which the elected representatives of tribal areas, leaders of the JUI, PPP, ANP, PML(N) and Qaumi Watan Party, were also present.
He stressed upon the government to announce a Ramadhan package for the tribal people before the advent of the holy month so that the worries of the IDPs were minimized.
Sirajul Haq said that the time table given by the government for the IDPs return had been prepared without consulting the tribal chiefs and seemed to be impracticable. Therefore, he said, that any programme or system for the IDPs return should be chalked out in consultation with the elected representatives of the area and the tribal leaders.
He said that around six lakh tribal people had crossed over to Afghanistan, therefore arrangements should also be made for their return home. He said the IDPs issue was purely political and not a military issue. He said the relief packages announced by the government for the IDPs should be implemented.
The JI chief said that thousands of tribal children had been living in camps all these years and their studies had been disrupted. Terming these children as the future of the country, he blamed the rulers of darkening the future of the country.
He said that the decisions taken at the peace talks held at Islamabad and Peshawar had not been acted upon. The government was neither listening to the tribes nor honouring its commitments with them because of which the tribal people were disappointed.
Sirajul Haq said that the representatives from Waziristan and tribal areas had complained that the federal government did not consult them in any matter nor had taken them in confidence regarding the IDPs’ return, and they had been left at the mercy of the armed forces. In fact, he said the PMLN() government had pushed the IDPs issue to the background like the PPP regime. He said that the Senators and assembly members from the area were not allowed to go to these areas while the elected leaders had settled in the federal capital. As a result, the tribal people were disappointed.
The JI chief also stressed that the tribal people should not be left at the mercy of the foreign NGOs.
In reply to a question on the Daska tragedy, the JI chef said the JI strongly condemned the killing of lawyers, and it had joined their protest. He said that the centre and the Punjab were being government by the same family and the federal and the Punjab government should take strict action against the culprits so as to make it a model. If the President of the district bar was not safe, how could the life and property of a common citizen be secure, he asked. He said that those involved in the Daska firing should not be shown any leniency so that no body dared to take the law in his hand in future.
