Uncertainty shadows 2018 elections: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has said clouds of uncertainty are shadowing 2018 elections and some people are raising dust by talking of national and technocrat governments.

Undemocratic attitude of rulers has done a great harm to the democratic system in the country, but the cure of a weak democracy was also democracy, he said while talking to reporters at Mansoora after the inaugural session of JI Shoora meeting Monday.

He said the PML-N government was mired in corruption and its chief Nawaz Sharif had been disqualified, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was sacked, Law Minister had resigned and the clouds of despondency were visible on the faces of the other ministers as well. He said in order to overcome despair, it was imperative to establish supremacy of the Constitution, holding elections on schedule and strict accountability of the corrupt. He said the government had neither implemented its election manifesto nor fulfilled its election promises. Poverty, lawlessness, price-hike and illiteracy were the gifts of the present rulers, he alleged.

Sirajul Haq said there were many other names in Panama Leaks but the names of the rulers were at the top which brought shame to the nation as a whole. He said the JI Shoora had decided to continue its drive against corruption till the accountability of each and every plunderer. However, he said, this would not be made an excuse to delay the elections. Therefore, accountability and the electoral process must go hand in hand. He demanded that the election commission should disqualify all the politicians against whom there were corruption cases. The JI chief said the rulers had deliberately weakened the state institutions to carry on loot and plunder. The parliament was not given importance and a campaign was going on against the judiciary.

Sirajul Haq announced taking a Long March from Jamrud to Islamabad in support of Fata merger with KP and the abolition of FCR. He welcomed the extension of jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and High Court to Fata. However, he said until the articles 246 and 247 of the Constitution were not abolished and the powers of president and prime minister regarding Fata were repealed, the tribal people could not be guaranteed their legal rights. The Jamaat-e-Islami leader termed US President Trump’s announcement of recognising Al-Quds as Israel’s capital a conspiracy to thrust the whole world into war. He said liberation of Qibla-e-Awwal was the most sensitive issue for Ummah. He urged all Muslim states to support Turkey on the issue and go for trade and social boycott of US till it withdraws its decision.

To a question about Model Town killings, Sirajul Haq said nobody, whether a minister or chief minister was above the law. He said those responsible for killing 14 persons should be punished according to the law.