Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Thursday demanded a judicial inquiry to probe into the alleged wheat import scam by the Interim Cabinet, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing a press conference in Mansoora, Lahore, JI Ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman also urged the government to purchase wheat from the farmers otherwise JI will stage a sit-in outside the CM Secretariat in Lahore.

He said farmers have suffered heavy expenditures for the bumper wheat crop in Pakistan, therefore JI will not allow the government to discourage farmers.

Hafiz Naeem further said after the government’s decision that it would not purchase wheat from the farmer, poor farmers got worried about how they would pay their loans which they incurred on their wheat crop.

JI Ameer further said that it was alarming that at the sowing time, prices of urea increased manifold. He said that most of the small farmers took loans to sow their crops and after the harvesting season, poor farmers wanted to sell their products to pay for their loans.

He said the government’s decision created panic among the farmers. He urged the government to protect the food basket of the country to avert food shortage in the country.

He said the protest was the basic right of the farmers and it was sad that the government was trying to gag the voice of the farmers. He said JI will set up protest camps against the government’s illegal actions.

He gave an ultimatum to the government to purchase wheat from the farmers otherwise the JI would stage a protest drive against the government.

Hafiz Naeem further said that JI was surprised that when Pakistan was keeping ample wheat in stores, then what were the reasons that the interim government imported 34,00,00 metric tonnes wheat from Ukraine?

JI chief said that on one side the interim government was claiming that it was saving dollars while on the other hand, one billion US dollars were wasted on wheat import.

JI demanded a judicial inquiry to ascertain the facts besides strict action against the corrupt practices and the negligence of the concerned officers and government officials.

 JI gets five deputy secretary generals

 The reorganization continued in JI,  as the newly-elected JI Amir Islami Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman appointed five deputy secretary generals.

Khalid Rehman, Waqas Anjum Jaafari, Azhar Iqbal, Sheikh Usman Farooq and Syed Farast Shah were appointed deputy secretary generals of the party and a formal notification has been issued issued by Secretary General Ameerul Azim,

Reporter: Hassan Ali