BATTAGRAM: Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed Khan has said the party will make Pakistan a true Islamic welfare state after coming to power.

       He stated this while addressing a public gathering organised by JI Battagram chapter here on Wednesday. JI Battagram emir Nisar Ahmed Khan and NA-13 candidate Saeed Ahmed Malkal also spoke.

       Mr Mushtaq declared the JI was the only party, which could steer Pakistan out of the multiple crises. He emphasised Pakistan came into being to be an Islamic welfare state, but the dream could not come true.

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       He argued that the country’s leadership was enslaved to IMF and World Bank. “Our leadership has no liberty to even fix prices of commodities. The rulers have committed a corruption of Rs63,000 billion in the past 76 years and laundered the money to foreign banks.”

       Senator Mushtaq said people were facing injustice, ‘economic terrorism’ and record inflation as the mafias ruled the country. He claimed the governments were not using national resources on public welfare as the country had only six beds for 1,000 patients, one doctor for 150 patients and had more children out of school than the school-going.

       He said state-owned enterprises were going into huge losses due to rampant corruption, and the leadership was least concerned about turning them around.

       He said the concept of an Islamic welfare state was that the state was responsible for providing free healthcare, shelter, free and expeditious justice to all without any discrimination.

       Senator Mushtaq said educated youth were leaving the country in droves due to lack of economic opportunities.

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       Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2024