KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq has said that the solution of all our problems is in bringing an honest and corruption-free leadership forward and such an opportunity awaits the people of Karachi in NA-246 constituency where by-elections are scheduled for April 23.

Reiterating his call for the installation of a biometric system for conducting fair and transparent polls, he said if the government can verify 70 million SIMs through a biometric system, why it could not arrange the system for around 200,000 voters of the constituency.

The JI chief, who was addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq here on Monday, appealed to the people to send JI candidate for NA-246 Rashid Naseem to the parliament to air their sentiments. According to him, Mr Naseem enjoys an unblemished record of service to people like ex-Mayor Abdul Sattar Afghani and Nazim Niamatullah Khan.

Mr Naseem, Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, Muzaffar Hashmi, Barjees Ahmed, Central Secretary Information Ameer-ul-Azeem and others were also present on the occasion.

Welcoming the visit of the Chinese president to Pakistan, he recalled his recent visit to China where he was shown pictures of several founding members of the Communist Party of China who were removed from the leadership and were punished for indulging in corruption. Pakistan could also steer clear from the present crises with the help of a corruption-free leadership similar to China, a country which, despite attaining independence around the same time as Pakistan, has made tremendous economic progress and become a superpower only because of its corruption-free leadership.

The JI chief said Pakistan ought to take a lesson from those developing countries where they don’t have a VVIP culture and have supremacy of the constitution and the law. In such countries, the head of state is also punished for committing mistakes unlike in Pakistan where a traffic sergeant salutes a VVIP violating the traffic signal in front of him.

He also said that Pakistan faces a larger threat from corrupt leadership as compared to other countries.

According to him, JI was not against any particular party, but wants a peaceful and prosperous Karachi where people can freely continue their business and earn their livelihood.

ZHe demanded issuance of the presiding officers’ list before the by-polls because in the past election party workers were deployed as presiding officers at polling stations, which resulted in massive rigging.

He regretted that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had failed to discharge its responsibilities of holding fair and free elections since 1977. But now, he said, the ECP has no other option but to conduct transparent by-polls on April 23.

Without taking names, JI chief said that certain terrorist elements want to push the city into darkness, adding that they are worried about holding transparent elections.

He pointed out that the uncertain situation of Karachi has compelled industrialists, businessmen and traders to shift their businesses to Dubai, Malaysia and other foreign countries.

The ‘city of lights’ has observed around 300 strikes in a short period of time, not to address public issues like water shortage, loadshedding or other basic amenities, but merely for political gains, he said. He alleged that the MQM has held the entire city hostage for the past 26 years, encroached on public land, amenity plots, parks and playgrounds to construct party offices.

Senator Sirajul Haq said that the services of JI leadership are not hidden from anyone, as a network of education centres, medical institutions, roads and other infrastructure were in the works during the period of former City Nazim Niamatullah Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 21st, 2015

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