Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman: JI Stands by Displaced Families, Demands Alternative Housing

5گھنٹے پہلے

Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman: JI Stands by Displaced Families, Demands Alternative Housing

Lahore: August 30 — Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has vowed that the JI will fight for the rights of thousands displaced by recent floods, holding both the government and Indian water aggression responsible for the devastation.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Alkhidmat’s relief camp in Lahore’s Chuhng area on Saturday, he said the government must provide alternative housing to the displaced. “These floods are a result of India’s water aggression. If the Pakistani government had managed administrative affairs properly, the destruction would not have been on this scale,” he remarked.
Rehman expressed regret that successive governments had failed to pursue the cases of Kashmir and Indian water aggression effectively. “If they had done so, these floods would not have wreaked such havoc. If the rulers are serious, why don’t they approach the International Court of Justice against Indian actions?” he asked.
He said the Modi government blocks water when Pakistan needs it and unleashes it when it suits India’s drainage. “If this is not aggression, then what is it?” he questioned.
The JI Emir held both the PML-N and PTI responsible for drowning the people. He criticized rulers for staging photo ops in boats while abandoning flood victims. He said the former Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar issued illegal NOCs to housing societies and current CM Maryam Nawaz is complicit by not cancelling them. “People were told the river’s course would change due to motorway construction, but when floods came, their homes were destroyed. Instead of helping them, police even baton-charged the victims,” he said.
Highlighting environmental causes, he said indiscriminate deforestation and stone-cutting in the mountains had aggravated floods. “Trees and mountains are divine blessings that act as barriers against floods. It’s time people rise against mafias.”
Rehman said the government had failed to unite the people during the crisis. “Neither Shahbaz Sharif nor Maryam Nawaz have satisfied the public with their performance, and PTI’s previous government also delivered nothing,” he added.
Expressing satisfaction over relief efforts, he said JI and Alkhidmat volunteers were serving flood-hit families with food, temporary shelter, healthcare, and education for children without compromising their dignity. “Our female volunteers are attending to women, while young people are encouraged to join as JI volunteers. We are not serving for politics or elections but for Allah’s pleasure and humanity’s welfare,” he said.
Later, addressing a gathering at Mansoorah, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said the big developers colluded with the establishment to grab state land, sell waterways, and establish housing colonies at the cost of people’s life savings. “Mafias have even sold flood channels, yet no government or court stopped them. Judges take hefty salaries and perks but fail to deliver justice,” he said, adding that the rotten system needed to be completely replaced with one based on merit and justice.