Jamaat holds 'Azadi March' against govt in Lower Dir.

TIMERGARA -- The Jamaat-i-Islami on Wednesday insisted an incompetent and inexperienced government was running the country and people were facing food shortages.

Addressing an 'Awami March' organised by the JI Lower Dir chapter against the government at Timergara, central general secretary Ameer ul Azeem said 15 million people were forced to use contaminated water. He said about four million people had lost jobs during the last one and a half year.

The JI leader claimed that the automobile industry had shed 40,000 employees. He said the rulers were under the US pressure to abolish blasphemy laws.

Earlier, hundreds of party workers led by Mr Azeem, Senator Muhtaq Ahmad Khan and district emir Izazul Mulk Afkari marched from Balambat to Gorgorai Chowk. The participants carried banners and placards and chanted slogans against the government for inflation and unemployment.

Speaking at the rally, Mushtaq Ahmad alleged that sugar and flour mafias had surrounded the prime minister, who were actually running the government.

The JI leader said people were crying for jobs but the rulers had kept silence. He said people were being befooled by mere slogans. He said President Arif Alvi had admitted that 2.2 million people had been...