TIMERGARA/UPPER DIR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq on Friday feared there could be dictatorship in the country again if the current crisis over the Aug 14 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf march on Islamabad wasn’t resolved by political means.

He, however, said he was hopeful that the ongoing political efforts to resolve the crisis would bear fruit.

“I hope a political solution to the current tensions will be found soon. But if that doesn’t happen, the country could face dictatorship yet again,” he told the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA), Lower Dir convention at the district council hall in Balambat.

The JI chief said foreign powers always supported dictatorship in the country as they didn’t want democratic governments to be stable.

He said a weak democracy was far better than an ideal dictatorship and that his party would continue playing an active role to ease the current political tensions.

“I will meet the prime minister very soon to discuss ways and means to defuse the current tensions,” he said.

Haq said the JI had presented a four-point agenda to the prime minister through which the country could be steered out of the crisis.

He said the country faced internal and external threats and that all political parties should unite to protect democracy.

The JI chief asked clerks to play active role in ending corruption in the country.

“Clerks hold key positions in government machinery. No government can run its business without clerks. Bearing it in mind, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government accepts their longstanding demand of upgradation of posts,” he said.

Speaking on the occasion, APCA provincial president Aslam Khan appreciated the provincial government for upgrading the posts of 83,000 local clerks.

He said the previous government deceived clerks on post upgradation, while the current one accepted their longstanding demand.

JI Lower Dir chief and former MNA Maulana Asadullah, MPAs Muzaffar Syed and Saeed Gul, APCA Dir president Mohammad Sher Tajak and general secretary Mohammad Salim also addressed the convention.

The APCA presidents from Nowshera, Swabi, Charsadda and Upper Dir, clerks from different government departments, and JI activists showed up in large numbers.

Addressing a big rally in Upper Dir on Friday, the Jamaat-i-Islami chief said that any unpleasant incident during Imran Khan’s August 14 march could harm democracy in the country, asking the federal government to deal with the issue prudently.

He said a Model Town like incident could also create problems for democracy. “All the political parties should come together to save democracy as the situation is precarious. If the ship of democracy sinks, the ship of all the political parties would automatically sink,” he warned.

He said he had proposed a four-point agenda to come out of the current political mess. He added the federal government was also worried because of Imran Khan’s march and urged the government to be patient in dealing with it.

Turning to American role in Pakistan, he said Washington wanted to dismember Pakistan and added that it could happen if Islamabad did not sever relations with the US. He said the US was after Pakistan’s nuclear capability and was behind a smear campaign against the country’s army.

The JI chief said the US was constructing a gigantic embassy building in Islamabad where more than 600 commandos were deployed. “This is a state within state,” he added. He asked the government to stop the US from constructing the complex.

He deplored the apathy of Muslim rulers over the Israeli barbarism in Gaza and asked the prime minister to convene a summit of the leaders of the Muslim world in Islamabad in support of Palestinians.

Published in Dawn, Aug 9th, 2014