Sirajul Haq slams Election Commission for postponing LB polls in Sindh

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Sirajul Haq has strongly condemned the Election Commission for postponing local body elections in Sindh just two days before their scheduled holding, terming it a very biased and controversial move.

The Election Commission, by colluding with the government parties, deprived the people of their right to vote, he commented while chairing a meeting of JI office bearers at Mansoorah on Thursday. He recalled that even during the war in the democratic countries the process of elections was never suspended, asking what kind of emergency had occurred that the Election Commission had to take a unilateral decision without taking the political parties into confidence. Public sentiments will be further hurt if institutions make decisions behind closed doors of their own free will. By trusting the continuity of the democratic process and the decisions of the people, the country can be brought out of the current crises, he said.

Siraj expressed sorrow that the country suffered destruction in the tussle for power between different ruling groups. For the past several months, there has been a battle of power while the people were being crushed in the mill of inflation and unemployment, and suffering from worst load-shedding of power.

The prices of food and basic needs have soared sharply making those items completely out of the reach of the common man. Fuel, gas and electricity prices have skyrocketed but the rulers were unmoved and, in exchange for taking one and a half billion loan from the IMF, the government is threatening to raise the price of electricity to 40 rupees per unit. Siraj lamented that instead of giving electricity to the poor, billions of rupees of subsidies and free electricity to the ruling elite, civil and military bureaucracy, judges, and assembly members are being given at the cost of poor masses. He demanded government should immediately reduce the prices of petrol and diesel by 100 rupees per litre, the prices of gas and food items should be reduced by 35 to 50 percent. He warned the PDM and PTI should not go too far in their thirst for power as to wreak havoc in the already devastated country. He reiterated that ruling political parties should display sincerity towards masses. He was concerned that people's houses are being washed away by rains and floods, but the rulers were sitting in air conditioned rooms planning to further their personal interests. The dollar, he said, continues to soar and it looks like the local currency will lose its existence in the coming days. Past and present governments are responsible for the destruction in economy, politics and society, he said, warning that government will have to fix the root of the problems.

He said it was time people must understand that feudal lords, bureaucrats and corrupt capitalists are at the roots of the problems plaguing the country, and people should get rid of them through the power of their vote and lay the foundation of corruption-free Islamic Pakistan by electing competent and honest leadership. He said the solution to the problems lies in the implementation of the Islamic system, which fixes the economy by abolishing the usury system. He said the rulers loyal to colonialism are determined to continue the usurious system in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan and the decision of the Federal Sharia Court.