KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Wednesday ruled out the possibility of making an alliance with any coalition partners of the then Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) government but hinted at seat adjustments with the Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf (PTI), mainly in Karachi, for the 2024 election.

“If you talk about the parties which were part of the PDM government and did nothing for Karachi and its people, we are good without making an alliance with any of them,” the JI leader told a questioner at the ‘Meet the Press’ programme of the Karachi Press Club.

About chances of a partnership with the PTI, he replied: “As far as PTI is concerned, we can definitely consider seat adjustment with them depending on the position of the two parties in different constituencies of Karachi. But let me be clear that we will contest [the election] independently on our [electoral] symbol and will only go for seat adjustment with other parties.”

He was critical of what he called “for sale” political parties and the military establishment and held them responsible for the failure of democracy in the country.

He said that the democratic process had become “a circus” being staged in the country for the past 76 years.

Talking about mainstream political parties, he dubbed the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), the Pakistan People Party and others as political dynasties and not democratic parties.

“Unfortunately, the establishment uses political parties like tissue papers. Some political parties demand respect for vote when they’re in hot waters but begin dancing to the tune of the establishment as soon as they’re offered a favour,” he added.

He said that the establishment had announced to take action against “the system” and corruption but no action had so far been taken.

He said that feudal lords had been ruling the people with the help of so-called political parties. “The feudal lords don’t pay taxes but they decide the future of ordinary people,” he said.

He highlighted that the tax collection from agricultural land clocked in at Rs4 billion as compared to Rs264bn tax collected from the salaried class.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2023