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JI Shoora deplores economic situation

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The Jamaat-e-Islami has expressed concern over what it called continued sluggish trend in the economy.

A resolution passed on the last day of its three-day central council (Shoora) here on Monday, the JI said that, no doubt, the past regimes had multiplied the problems instead of solving them. Despite the four-month Army rule, a sense of uncertainty and deprivation still prevails in the country and no new recipe for economic restructuring has been presented so far.

The resolution observed that it seemed that the government had focused its attention on seeking relief packages and rescheduling of the foreign loans from the donor agencies. Besides, the rulers were stuck with the futile exercise of realising the General Sales Tax (GST) from traders and increasing the petroleum prices.

The approach, the resolution added, could not be termed hopeful and encouraging. "The first 100 days of the sitting government have witnessed hike in prices and joblessness in the country."

Identification of the problems is the basic thing, averred the resolution adding that the JI believed that the bureaucracy equally shared the responsibility for the economic failure with the political leadership. For this reason, it stated, frequent changes in the political leadership did not witness any shift in the objectives of economic planning and the modus operandi adopted for these objectives.

The Shoora observed that the real problem were the vested interests as foreign loans and investment had become the lifeline for the economy. This had indebted the country to the extent that it had become equal to our Gross National Product (GNP) and half of our proceeds go into debt retirement, it further claimed.

The Shoora categorically declared that the entire nation was in the grip of an opportunist clique committed to protect feudal, capitalistic and open market system which was the real cause of our economic disorder. Resultantly, international capitalism, the World Bank and the IMF had become parasites for our economy while national resources were being utilised for personal and political gains, rendering the economy bankrupt. National productivity is on decline while agriculture has collapsed.

The JI opined that the economic uplift and collective justice could only be achieved by carving policies based on an equitable Islamic ideology, checking dependency on international capitalism and domestic feudal set-up, and getting rid of those who promote self-interest.

The Shoora urged the government to take immediate steps to ensure provision of flour, ghee, pulses, electricity and other basic amenities of life on cheaper rates throughout the country besides over-powering the price hike and shortage of flour in NWFP, Tharparkar, Northern Areas and Balochistan, the resolution concluded.