DERA ALLAH YAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq has said that half of the country’s population was deprived of the basic facilities but the ruling elite class has no care about grievances of the common man. Addressing a public gathering in Dera Allah Yar on Sunday, Siraj warned that if the masses meekly bore the oppression and injustices of the ruling elite, their future generations would not get two times meals and basic facilities of education, health and employment. He alleged that the forefathers of the ruling elite had secured “jagirs” from the British for their loyalty to the foreign rulers and on the basis of these properties they reached the corridors of power. After Pakistan came into being, this lobby drew huge loans from banks and set up factories and industrial units, he said, adding this “feudal-capitalist” lobby had been ruling the country for the last 68 years and had plundered trillions, built palaces within the country and abroad and set up industries there. During all this time, the plight of the masses remained unchanged, he regretted. The JI chief said that corruption has become the biggest menace in the country. He said that the parties that have been ruling the country so far had not carried out the accountability of one another in the past nor would do this in future. He said the ruling junta spent huge amounts of cultural functions and foreign visits while the man in the street did not get basic civic facilities. The ruling elite, he said, considered power as their housemaid. “The ministers and advisers in Pervez Musharraf’s government later joined the subsequent governments by changing parties.” He alleged that the leaders and tribal chief of Balochistan were mainly responsible for the backwardness of the province. He said there was a 990 KW electricity unit at Jafferabad but the neighbouring localities remained without light. He said the JI drive against corruption is aimed at strengthening the unity and solidarity of the country. He hoped that the masses would join the campaign and defeat the forces of status quo.