Mamnoon Hussain’s address more of PML-N President’s than head of state: Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri

In his reaction to the President’s address to the joint sitting of Parliament, PAT leader Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri has said that the President’s address was a collection of the press releases issued from time to time by the Prime Minister’s Office. He said that it was less of Pakistan President’s address and more of the address by the President of the ruling PML-N. He said that the whole nation is facing the consequences of multiple crises such as lawlessness, unemployment, economic meltdown and poverty and the President salted the wounds of the people by singing praises of the government. He said that the President did mention revival of international cricket but forgot to mention the depth of darkness the people are groping in for last many years. He stated that he should have reminded the government of its promise to end load-shedding in first six months on assuming power, adding that two years have passed but the promise of resolving energy crisis still remains unrealized.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that so far as appreciation for the Operation Zarb-e-Azb is concerned, the President should keep it in view that even the best decision of launching Operation Zarb-e-Azb was delayed by one year due to resistance of the government. Had there been no delay of one year, the dangerous terrorists would not have got an opportunity to flee and go into hiding, he added.

The PAT chief said that as far as the tragedy of Army Public School Peshawar is concerned, the government has not been able to establish a judicial commission despite passage of six months nor has any official report of the tragedy been brought before the nation. Nor has the masses been told as to who were involved in carrying out the heart-rending incident; where they came from and went; who were their patrons, facilitators and what legal action was taken against them.

Talking about the National Action Plan, Dr Qadri said that 70% of provisions of NAP are yet to be implemented. He said neither has registration of religious seminaries been carried out nor has peace curriculum been designed. The government does not have up-to-date lists of defunct organizations and the masses have not been informed about the organizations that are still working with changed names. He said that the President should have taken the government to task on these counts.

Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri said that the President described the government’s performance as satisfactory, whereas the fact remains that the honorable Lahore High Court exposed the veneer of excellent public service a few days ago by giving a verdict against fleecing of the masses in the form of inherent taxes in electricity bills. He said that the trend of prices on POL products has been downward in international market while they have been raised in Pakistan, asking does it constitute excellent performance of the government? He said that the people were hoping that the President would advise the government to withdraw recently announced hike in the prices of POL products but he did not do so. He said that the President should have taken the government to account as to why the military courts have not been established in all the four provinces in the light of the 21st Constitutional Amendment; why has NFC Award not been announced; why have LG elections not been held so far in two of the four provinces?

The PAT leader said that it is regrettable that the Custodian of the Constitution neglected these important constitutional matters in his speech. He said that the President also disappointed the nation by not advising the government to raise effective voice over the atrocities being committed on the Muslims in Burma and Kashmir. He said that the he should have also warned the government’s economic team against taking excessive foreign loans, instructing them to nab tax thieves, broaden tax net and rid the nation of the IMF’s bondage. He said that the President ignored all these issues.