LAHORE: The government is happy that it was able to retain the Senate chairmanship, but even a child knew that it suffered the biggest (moral) defeat, said Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Senator Sirajul Haq.

Talking to the media after addressing participants of the JI’s central workshop at Mansoora, he said that both sides, who put up Hasil Bizenjo for the Senate top slot and those who manoeuvered his defeat, had wronged him badly.

Flanked by other party leaders, he said that if Mr Bizenjo had accused someone of some wrongdoing, he must have proof of it. But the voters in this case needed to realise that selling votes and conscience could never earn them respect.

“All political and democratic norms have been buried in the Senate election and fate has sided with those who began the Changa Manga politics. The way the government managed its win can hardly be called a victory. But the opposition has not done any good either by pitting a Baloch against a Baloch.

“It is a plain fact that the government purchased the Senators and it was high time the ruling party and the opposition bid farewell to this ugly practice and frame strict laws to end horse trading,” he advised.

When asked why the JI and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), both part of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, were protesting separately instead of one platform, the JI emir said: “Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the JUI-F chief, was busy with the PPP and PML-N. Let him deal with those bigger issue first.”

Commenting on the one year of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government, Haq said that it had proved to be a total failure and even those who brought it to power are asking how long it would last. Since both the government and the opposition had no solution to the people’s problems, the popularity of the JI among the masses was on the rise. He said the JI had an alternate economic system and an agenda for development and prosperity of the country. He said he would announce his future line of action at the JI’s Awami March in Peshawar on Aug 25.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2019