Postponement of elections in Punjab unacceptable, says Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Sirajul Haq has condemned Election Commission for postponing elections in Punjab, terming it unacceptable, and demanding it should take a decision in consultation with all political parties, without coming under pressure from any side to prove its neutrality and fulfill its constitutional role.

Elections should be held on the same day in the entire country so that prevailing political uncertainty could end, he said while addressing a ceremony in connection with Pakistan Day on Friday.

He demanded PDM and PPP should sacrifice central and Sindh assemblies and all stakeholders who believe in politics and democracy should negotiate for transparent elections. He said the government of 14 political parties showed zero performance in 11 months, delivered nothing to the people, demanding government should reduce the prices of food items by 50%, to reduce inflation, which made people’s life a torment. He said PTI govt pushed country into economic abyss in four years, and now the troika of PDM, PPP and PTI are defending the status quo and western slavery.

Later, addressing a joint meeting of JI manifesto committee, parliamentary board and central and provincial office bearers at Mansoora, Siraj said JI’s election manifesto is a ray of hope for the nation and is the outline of an Islamic, democratic and developed Pakistan.

Outlining salient features of JI manifesto, he said after JI comes to power, a training academy will be established to increase the capacity of parliamentarians, Election Commission will be made financially and administratively independent, National Finance Commission and the distribution formula in the provinces will be reviewed, local bodies will be strengthened.

A new chapter will be added to the constitution for the protection of local governments, the media will be free and the bearer of Islamic culture, Urdu will be made the official language and the medium of basic education, supremacy of Quran and Sunnah will be established according to the Constitution of Pakistan.

He added that the finality of the Prophethood will be protected in all circumstances and the decisions of the Federal Sharia Court will be made final and efforts will be made to create harmony among national political parties to adopt the method of proportional representation.

Talking about Pakistan Day, Siraj said that even after seven decades, Pakistan has not even come close to the destination for which the Muslims of the subcontinent have sacrificed. In spite of being an agricultural country, people stand in queues for hours for a single bag of flour.

He said the inflation, poverty, unemployment, lack of health and education facilities are the gifts of the rulers to the people. Due to problems, every fifth Pakistani suffers from depression while seven million youth have become drug addicts. More than two and a half million children in the country are out of school due to poverty while the big cities have turned into piles of pollution and garbage.