KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq has appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to take notice of the Senate election where parliamentarians cast votes for their own financial gains and other benefits.

He was speaking at the press club here on Sunday.

The JI leader floated the idea that the senators-elect should submit undertaking before taking oath as senators that they did not bribe parliamentarians to vote for them.

Says fair elections are the only solution to all problems

“If they do not do so, they should not be allowed to take the oath of Senate,” he added.

Mr Haq further said that his party would be the first one to ask its senators to submit such undertakings.

Responding to questions after initial remarks on the political situation, he said the country should be made free of corruption and it was the duty of the citizens to raise their voice against the malpractice.

“The apex court should also play its active part. There is no need for making statements on oath by judges. The judgements should be transparent enough to convince all stakeholders. When such judgements will be delivered, the entire nation will support them,” he said.

The JI chief said political and economic terrorists sitting in the corridors of power and political institutions were destroying the country.

“National institutions such as PIA and Pakistan Steel, which were making profit earlier, are now on the verge of collapse. Employees of the Pakistan Steel have not been paid salaries for the past six months but those at the helm of affairs are unmoved.”

He reiterated his party’s stance of opposing the privatisation of PIA and Pakistan Steel and demanded immediate payment of salaries to the latter’s employees.

Mr Haq said the Jamaat-i-Islami was the only party which was democratic and conducted intra-party elections.

“That is why we ask the Election Commission of Pakistan to conduct intra-party elections of all parties under its supervision.

“True democracy and fair elections are the only solution to all of our problems. If threats, rigging and corruption are not eliminated from democracy and politics, people will lose their faith and trust in elections,” the JI leader added.

About Karachi, he said the city was the hub of economic activity which was destroyed under a calculated plan and now the people of Karachi were deprived of basic necessities of life such as water and power.

“We can see broken roads and heaps of garbage everywhere in the city. Even the youths of the city are jobless.

“For all these ills, people who ruled the city for over 30 years are responsible. They are now at loggerheads with one another not for the people but for their own sake.

“The JI is present in the city as an alternative force. It provided relief to the citizens by countering K-Electric and Nadra. If given a chance, we will leave no stone unturned in serving the people just like Abdul Sattar Afghani and Naimatullah Khan and put Karachi on the road to progress and prosperity once again,” he added.

Earlier, KPC president Ahmad Khan Malik and Secretary Maqsood Yusufi welcomed the guest.

Published in Dawn, March 5th, 2018