Govt ready to negotiate with JI for country’s development, prosperity: Tarar

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information, Broadcasting, Culture and National Heritage Attaullah Tarar on Friday announced the government’s readiness to negotiate with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on their demand in a bid to end their sit-in causing inconvenience to the general public.

More than 1,000 workers and activists of Jamaat-e-Islami were arrested across Pakistan trying to march on the federal capital while taking part in a protest against inflation in the country.

JI’s Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman had given the protest call against massive hike in electricity prices.

Jamaat-e-Islami has announced to stage sit-ins at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh for the release of its arrested workers and activists.

“We are ready to talk for peace, security and development of the country which is the main agenda of our government,” Information Minister Tarar said while addressing a news conference along with Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Amir Muqam.

The minister said JI chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman was a seasoned and far-sighted leader whose guidance would be instrumental for the government to address the existing issues within the existing framework.

He said the government was ready to form a three-member committee which would comprise of him, Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan Amir Muqam and PMLN senior leader Tariq Fazal, the official news agency reported.

Tarar called upon the JI leadership to sit and guide the government in resolving the issues instead of doing the “politics of agitation”.

The JI was given permission only to stage their sit-in at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi, he said, urging them to use only the dedicated place for the purpose.

There was no need to obstructing a public servant in discharge of his/her duty and creating hurdles for the people, he said, regretting one or the other group had made it a routine to swarm the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad that caused traffic issues for the people including patients and professionals.

The minister urged the JI leadership to follow the standard operation procedures agreed with the local administration.

Protest at the D-Chowk would not be allowed at any cost since there was a possibility of a mischief due to involvement of any miscreant, he maintained.

The minister urged the JI leadership to have faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who had been working 20 hours a day to implement the agenda of home grown economic reforms that included privatisation of loss making entities, digitisation of the Federal Board of Revenue for documentation of non-documented economy, addition of new filers in the tax net and other initiatives.

He said it was top priority of the government to achieve home grown economic reforms that had started providing fiscal space to offer subsidy to the people in electricity bills.

He said the privatisation of the FBR was underway to plug loopholes in system to stop billions of rupee leakage and add new filers into the tax net. “We are moving forward rapidly on economic reforms to bring positive changes in people’s life,” he added.

The minister said PM Shehbaz Sharif led the government during the tenure of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and took concrete measures to stabilise the rupee, reduce inflation and on top of that successfully averted a default for the country.

It was speculated that Pakistan may default and foreign investors would withdraw their investment, but PM Shehbaz saved the country from economic collapse despite the efforts to sabotage a deal with the International Monetary Fund, he added.

Tarar recalled the achievements of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) government in 2018 when the economy was growing at 6 percent and inflation was clocked at 4 percent with the unit of electricity costing only Rs8 per unit.

The minister said the PMLN government had steered the country out of the crises in the past and would do so in future with the grace of the Almighty. Inflation had been brought down to 11 percent, stock exchange witnessing highest activity in the last couple of months with all the economic indicators on upward trajectory, he added.

Tarar regretted a halt on the country’s development during the tenure of the PTI government which was led by a “corrupt person” who borrowed money massively and benefited himself and his close aides by selling Toshakhana gifts and striking a shady deal worth 190 million pounds.

“We understand the issues faced by the chief minister of KP as on the one hand he has to assure cooperation in official meetings while on the other side he was answerable to the PTI founder on maintaining a (specific) public posture,” he said.

Referring to the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), he said those who allegedly resettled Taliban in the country should come up with a plan in accordance with their claims of having a capacity to maintain the law and order and establishing the writ in the province.

He regretted that terrorism has increased during the tenure of the PTI government.

The minister asked the PTI leadership in KP to give their stance to the public on two big scandals, including massive deforestation and signing of agreements with a “fake institution” on the Artificial Intelligence.

Demanding action against the timber mafia, he alleged involvement of a minister of the KP government and its officials in the massive deforestation.

As regards the signing of an agreement between the KP government and an institution for training of the students on the AI, he said they were playing with the future of students who would never get jobs due to fake certification.

He said the staff associated with the “fake institution” lacked required experience and awarded their staff with their own degrees on the subject.

No staff of the institution had a proper certification on AI either, he said, adding there was no record found regarding a degree claimed by its head from the MIT.