LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said on Thursday the revelations about the notorious National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) adopted during the PPP rule has proved that the country’s affairs were decided not at home but in Washington and New York.

Talking to the media at Mansoora, the JI emir termed the PPP and the PML as two sides of the same coin, competing with each other in the US slavery.

To a question about the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s rally on the Independence Day, he said he believed that Imran Khan did not want an end to democracy. “I am sure that there will be no martial law in the country again as no army chief will dare take over while the country is confronted with numerous problems,” he said.

Sirajul Haq said it was the PTI’s democratic right to stage a rally on the Independence Day. He said the JI and some other parties also supported Imran Khan’s demand that the elections should be free and transparent and the election commission should be autonomous and impartial.

JI opposes call for KP assembly dissolution

“Had the government accepted Imran Khan’s demand for recounting of votes in four NA constituencies, the situation would not have gone that far. However, there should not be any ugly happening on the Independence Day,” he added.

Condemning Israel’s continued bombings on Gaza, Mr Haq appealed to the Arab world to pull out its wealth lying in American banks and use its petrol as a weapon in order to stop the US from supporting Israel’s hostilities against the Palestinians. He appealed to the people to join and support the protest rallies being staged by the JI on Friday (today) to express solidarity with the Palestinians.

The JI chief said the internally displaced persons (IDPs) issue was getting more serious. Around one million people had moved out of their homes in hot weather and their problems and difficulties could not be explained in words, he said, adding the federal and the provincial governments had failed in handling the IDPs. He said the federal government should have made arrangements for such a large number of the IDPs.

Asked about efforts for friendship with India, he said all talks in this respect was a fraud as both the governments fully realised that relations between the two states could not be normalised unless the Kashmir issue was solved.

Published in Dawn, July 254th, 2014