LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Sirajul Haq has said the failure of political parties to reach an agreement for electoral reforms has raised concern that many of them will hardly acknowledge the outcome of the future polls.

He said while addressing JI workers at Mansoora on Tuesday that ruling parties fight only to stay in power by hook or by crook.

They, he added, indulged in fighting to get fed by the establishment. The ruling elite, he said, never worked for the development of the educated youth or the common man. The US or other western powers had no objection to their rule whether it was in the form of PTI or PDM.

Mr Haq said accountability had turned into a joke in the country as the powerful who committed corruption of Rs50 million would no longer stand accountable before the NAB. He said justice was served only to the powerful and denied to the poor or weak, adding that if one lacked wealth or power, they could not knock on the door of the court.

The JI chief said the former and incumbent rulers were responsible for the problems of the country. The PDM and the PTI failed to deliver and were exposed before the public, he said. Both sides, he said, were still in power and one expected from them that they should talk about their performance rather than mislead the public with false narratives.

The youth of the country, he said, should compete with the ruling parties’ narrative with the power of truth. The younger generation knew the reality, and they must have taken a bold stance on it, telling the common folks that the ruling parties were frauds and responsible for their miseries.

He said the JI was struggling against the status quo and corrupt system. He said the JI Youth Leadership Convention was the beginning of real change and the Islamic revolution in the country.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2022