LAHORE: Taking oath as the emir of the Jamaat-i-Islami for the second time on Tuesday, Senator Sirajul Haq said the elections in the country were engineered and only those people were declared as elected who were loyal to the ‘actual’ rulers.

He said the government comprised political people apparently but the actual power was in the hands of non-political masters.

The ceremony was held at Mansoora and was attended by the representatives from different political and religious parties, lawyers, workers and party leaders.

Addressing the ceremony, Mr Haq said all military rulers from Ayub Khan up to Pervez Musharraf had harmed the democratic system, the Constitution, parliament, judiciary and the country’s image only for personal ends and to perpetuate their rule.

He said the legislature, judiciary, executive and the government at present were helpless and the foreign and the domestic policies were ineffective. He said about a dozen ministers of the Musharraf era in the present cabinet were a mockery of democracy.

The JI leader said his party wanted the rule of law in the country as the nation had always exercised its vote in search of betterment.

“It voted for the PPP and the PML-N for their rights and for the solution to their problems but all in vain. It then voted for the PTI but it too had not come up to the expectations of their masses.”

Sirajul Haq said if the corrupt were subjected to court trial instead of the media trial nobody would be able to raise a finger. He stressed upon the government to check the price hike which, in his words, was the worst form of terrorism.

The JI chief supported Doha talks for Afghan peace, saying the world colonialism should learn a lesson from defeat of North Atlantic treaty Organisation (NATO) in Afghanistan. He also saluted the prime minister of New Zealand for expressing solidarity with the Muslims in her country in the wake of a terrorist attack there.

Published in Dawn, April 10th, 2019