PTI-JI relations fluctuated in past

PESHAWAR: The relationship between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami has been subject to changes and ups and downs in the past.

Both parties have been part of the coalition government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; they boycotted the elections together in 2008 and after 2018 there was tension in their relationship. Siraj-ul-Haq continued to criticize the federal and provincial governments of PTI and accused it of destroying the country’s economy by taking loans after loans. Imran Khan also made strong statements against Siraj-ul-Haq and asked him to stop playing on both sides of the wicket.

Before the 2008 general elections, parties of the All Pakistan Democratic Movement (APDM) decided to boycott the election, but later the rest of the parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-N, Pakistan People’s Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Awami National Party, withdrew their decision to boycott. Only the PTI, Jamaat-e-Islami and Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party not only boycotted together, but Imran Khan and Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed also held rallies across the country.

After the general elections of 2013, at the stage of government formation, the PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami once again united and Sirajul Haq was appointed the senior minister for finance of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Inayatullah Khan was assigned the responsibility of health minister. The alliance continued for five years, but after Sirajul Haque took over the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami, he criticized the 2014 sit-ins and fought the 2018 elections on the platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, then the relationship between the two parties deteriorated. In 2018, when Siraj-ul-Haq told Imran Khan to solve the country’s problems through talks with Nawaz Sharif instead of sit-ins, Imran Khan got angry and replied that Siraj-ul-Haq should stop playing on both sides of the wicket. When the religious parties participated on the platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, Imran Khan severely criticized Sirajul Haq. Sirajul Haq, speaking in an election rally in 2018, said that Imran Khan came to Dir district and told him why had he made an alliance with Fazlur Rehman? “To which I replied that Maulana Fazlur Rehman is neither corrupt, nor his name is in the Panama Leaks,” he added.

Siraj-ul-Haq severely criticized the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments of PTI and said that instead of fixing the country’s economy, it had made the country a slave to the IMF by taking loans after loans.