MANSEHRA: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government could be dislodged through constitutional and democratic means, including in-house change and mid-term polls, but for this the opposition parties must have a joint agenda.

“The opposition can initiate a no-confidence move or force the PTI government to hold mid-term elections through a joint strategy,” Mr Haq said while speaking at an oath-taking ceremony of district body of Jamaat-i-Islami here on Sunday.

He said that the economic policies being implemented by the present government were borrowed from the previous governments of former dictator Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party.

“The PTI’s is the most unpopular government so far as previous governments borrowed $31billion since inception of the country, but this government has borrowed $10 billion during its first one year alone, putting the economy on the brink of disaster,” Mr Haq said.

The JI chief said that chief election commissioner of Pakistan should be appointed through mutual understanding between the government and opposition as free and fair elections were essential to real democracy in the country.

He that only impartial chief election commissioner could ensure free and fair elections. He said that his party would hold march on the federal capital on December 22 next to highlight the Kashmir issue as it seemed the government had accepted ‘the division of Kashmir’.

He alleged that the government was not pursuing the Kashmir issue seriously and that was why they had planned the march on Islamabad. The JI chief said that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had failed to address public issues.

Earlier, Mr Haq administered oath to the newly-elected office-bearers of Mansehra district chapter of his party.

Speaking on the occasion, newly-elected district chief Dr Tariq Sherazi said that the party workers from Hazara would fully participate in the ‘Kashmir march’.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019