Siraj calls for civil supremacy, poll reforms

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Siraj-ul-Haq has demanded that political parties should begin negotiations to prepare a mechanism of civilian supremacy and election reforms in the light of establishment’s announcement of staying away from politics.

The nation will never approve of delaying the general elections, he warned while addressing JI central office bearers’ meeting at Mansoorah on Monday, which discussed the overall political and economic situation of the country, general elections and organizational issues.

Siraj demanded that electoral reforms must be completed before the elections. He said evolving a new social contract on the three-point agenda will end the decades old political instability, emphasising that nobody will accept elections results without reforms. He demanded that elections should be held under the principle of proportionate representation, and corruption and interest-based system must be done away with for the improvement of the economy.

He lamented that ruling parties are not sincere in political and economic stability in the country, as they want to maintain status quo which is in their advantage. He said if courts and NAB do not hold the looters accountable, then the people should hold them accountable with the power of vote. He said JI is struggling for Islamic system in the country, while the mainstream political parties are out to create wealth and properties for themselves.

He said interest and corruption are the main problems facing the country, without ridding them no improvement is possible. He said JI wants to make the country free of corruption, debt and interest. He said ruling elite borrowed foreign loans at huge interest and spent it on themselves instead of the people, building overseas properties and offshore companies. Names of rulers appeared in Panama Leaks and Pandora Papers, as they waived billions of loans. Current and previous governments have taken 23 programs from the IMF so far, but at the end of each program inflation, unemployment actually increased. The current finance minister was called in from London with tall claims, but the situation became worse than before. The value of the dollar did not fall, nor did the inflation rate come down. Today, the country has a debt of more than sixty-two thousand billion rupees, while the IMF is making our policies, the decisions of the country's fate are made in Washington, he said.

He lamented that people are forced to starve and commit suicides, while the rulers are fighting for personal benefits, ignoring over 30 million flood victims languishing for basic needs, as the aid from abroad is nowhere to be seen.

He reiterated that PTI, PML-N and PPP are different sides of the same coin; their policies are formed at the behest of the US and not for the people. For years, these parties are sitting in power corridors in the form of family dynasties and clubs of landlords, Vaders and tyrannical capitalists, he said, adding that they never improved the social facilities, judicial system, police reforms, education and health facilities. He said over two and a half million children in the country cannot go to school due to poverty, while millions of cases are pending in the courts. Even basic health facilities and clean drinking water are not available.