KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Senator Sirajul Haq has announced that his party will launch a movement from Karachi in February for elimination of corruption and poverty.

During the drive different activities, including long marches, would be organised across the country, he said while speaking at a JI convention in the central mosque of North Nazimabad area.

He said that 2018 — when the next general elections would be held in the country — would be the year of change, when people would get rid of those (politicians) who had robbed the country.

Also read: Jamaat plans to enlist half a million youth

An amount of Rs375 billion amassed through corruption had been sent abroad, he said.

“The Jamaat is a movement striving to bring about a peaceful Islamic revolution which will also usher in an era of prosperity,” he said. “We want to see the (introduction) of the system of Allah Almighty practiced by the Holy Prophet (SAW).”

On the one hand, the government had failed to solve problems of people and, on the other the burden of foreign loans on common man was continuously increasing, Mr Haq said.

Instead of eliminating corruption and mismanagement from national institutions, he said, the government was mulling over the “sale of some institutions’.

In a veiled reference to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the senator said that those who had been given mandate in local bodies’ elections should focus on mitigating miseries of Karachi people instead of holding ceremonies and organising celebrations only.

“The Sindh government is the only administration in the world which wants criminals to get scot-free”, he alleged.

JI deputy chief Rashid Naseem said that Pakistan could not become prosperous without enforcement of Islamic system.

“The state has not been discharging its responsibilities and as a result dangerous tendencies of extremism and intolerance are taking roots among people.

Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, Karachi JI chief, said that the party had upheld noble values of truth and faithfulness in extremely unfavourable conditions.

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2016