Siraj opposes any move for presidential system

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq warned that those talking of enforcing presidential system were pushing the country towards chaos. The 1973 Constitution had been unanimously adopted and if it was made controversial, the nation could never agree on another constitution, he said, addressing the opening session of newly-elected JI central Shoora at Mansoora on Thursday.

He said the Constitution was under serious threats in present regime, adding there were several flaws in the 18th amendment which should be rectified. He said after 2018 general elections, the situation in the country had gone worse instead of bringing any improvement, and country badly needed an alternative leadership. However, he made it clear that JI would not be a party to the politics of PPP or PML-N.

“We believe that Pakistan needs the Islamic system of government as much as it needs sunlight and water”, he said. However, he said, dictatorship was the biggest hurdle in the way of Islamic system. “What is the need for military courts when civil courts are functioning,” he asked. How can there be two judicial systems and two parallel governments, he asked. Sirajul Haq said presidential system implied the government of the World Bank technocrats and such a government would neither have people’s representation nor it would attend to the voice of the masses, he added.

He said present government was a heard of opportunists who had been brought together under one party. He said people had hoped that the PTI government would be able to put the country on road to progress within three years time after controlling price hike, poverty, unemployment and energy crisis. However, he said, the government had collapsed within nine months and the economic situation had worsened. The country’s politics had been held hostage and the policy making institutions were idle, and watching the helplessness of the people.