Supremacy of constitution only way forward for Pakistan: JI chief

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said the supremacy of the constitution is the only way forward for the country to get out of the prevailing political and economic crises.

Addressing a press conference at the JI Karachi’s headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq, he said the governments on both the federal and provincial levels, as well as the establishment, needed to adhere to their constitutional framework.

Emphasizing the need for nurturing a peaceful political environment, he said peaceful protest is a democratic right and clamping democratic freedoms would lead to nowhere and it would aggravate the prevailing problems.

He further said the entire governmental policies need to be revisited as the ongoing policies have not only deprived the nation of trust in the governance but also created divisions between the masses and the state institutions.

The Pakistan Peoples Party has been sticking to Sindh in order to plunder the resources of Karachi and grab land, he alleged, adding that the 16-year-rule by the PPP in Sindh is “a textbook example of bad governance”.

Instead of overcoming the shortcomings of his regime, the Karachi mayor talked negatively about the traders’ community, he said. Talking about the “Form 47 government's cosmetic measures” and uptick in the stock exchange, he said it is an open secret that the stock exchange in Pakistan doesn’t reflect the state of economy.

The progress and development of the country is associated with the development of industry, agriculture, relief to the common man and reduction of power tariff, he said. Talking about the K-Electric, the JI chief said the production of electricity has dropped by 19 percent during the past 19 years, whereas line losses have increased by several folds.

Despite the overwhelming support by successive ruling regimes and ruling parties, the KE has failed on all fronts, he alleged, adding that the KE has to pay Rs200 billions to the Sui Southern Gas Company, Rs70 billion each to the Pakistan Railways and Karachiites under the head of clawback. He said the country and 250 million people were kept deprived of democracy as the prevailing system of controlled democracy was impure as it was manipulated with multiple tools.