TIMERGARA/NOWSHERA:Condemning the attacks on Akram Khan Durrani in Bannu, Siraj Raisani in Quetta and Haroon Bilour in Peshawar, Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq said on Friday that some hidden powers wanted to sabotage the July 25 general elections, but they would not let them do so.

In Timergara, the JI chief told public rallies in Kumbar Maidan and Odigram that attacks on poll candidates in Peshawar, Bannu and Quetta were not a good omen for the country. He said that some hidden powers wanted to derail the democratic process.

He said that MMA would not let anyone to sabotage the elections in the country. He said that the coming elections would be a fight between two ideologies. “We have no wish for ministries and positions, but making Pakistan a true Islamic welfare state is our goal,” he said.

About Nawaz Sharif and Pervez Musharraf, he said that the former was coming to be jailed while the latter was avoiding returning to the land which he governed for years. He asked the participants to elect honest and devoted candidates for the sake of the country. The rallies were also addressed by MMA candidates for PK-13, PK-16 and PK-17.

Also in the day, PTI election coordinator for PK-17 Anwar Said quit his party and joined JI during Kumbar Maidan function which was also addressed by MMA candidate Saeed Gul. He claimed that MMA would win all the seats in Lower Dir, as JI had done record development work in the district.

In Nowshera, JI provincial chief Mushtaq Ahmad Khan claimed that if voted to power Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal would start evenhanded accountability of corrupt elements.

“MMA would start accountability of all segments of society without any discrimination to root out corruption,” he said while addressing public meetings in Pir Sabaq, Zara Mena, Mesri Banda and other villages.

MMA candidate for PK 61, NA-25 and other leaders also spoke on the occasion and said that the country’s problems could not be resolved without implementation of Islamic Shariah. They called for across-the-board accountability to eliminate corruption in the country.

The MMA leaders said that successive governments had done nothing for the progress and development of the country due to which people were still facing various problems. They termed unemployment and loadshedding the main issues of the country, saying that only MMA could resolve them.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2018