GUJRAT: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq says holding elections is the solution to the terrorism and elections should not be delayed through lame excuse of some acts of terrorism in the country and Friday’s verdict by the Supreme Court has eliminated uncertainty looming over the general election.

He was talking to Dawn at a breakfast hosted by Gujrat JI emir Ansar Mehmood Dhool where North Punjab JI emir Dr Tariq Saleem, Kharian emir Imran Anwar and others were also present.

Mr Haq said some foreign agencies and world powers needed a disturbed Pakistan and in case of further delay in the polls, the situation might get further disturbed through creation of more conflicts on linguistic, sectarian, regional and political basis. He stressed that the security institutions could not alone handle the menace of terrorism as they needed a strong and democratically elected government to fight against the terrorism in a more effective way whereas to tackle the deteriorating economy, a strong democratic government was a must.

The JI emir said Pakistan had been governed by the powerful mafias during the last five years of the PTI, PDM and PPP governments who ruined the economy and increased their assets.

JI announces candidates for NA, PA seats of Gujrat

Responding to a question, he said the JI strongly supported the idea of holding the election through judiciary as despite question marks on the performance of judiciary, the nation still had more trust in it as compared to the administrative machinery involved in more corrupt practices. However, he added that in the current circumstances, the country required a strong and effective role of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) in holding free and fair polls that would be a test of the ECP. He said countries like India and others had developed credible election commissions due to which the political parties there did not object to the results of the elections.

Mr Siraj said that even in the current era, the country could not get rid of the feudalism and a monarchy type of leadership system in the so-called ruling parties where the parties were being run solely by the handful members of the certain families lacking democratic norms within them. He lamented even the courts and the accountability watchdogs were unable to hold these influential ruling elites accountable for their corrupt practices of loot and plunder of the national resources in the name of democracy so only the election could be the means of accountability.

Sirajul Haq said the JI had nominated him as a candidate for NA-06 Dir (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Later on, the JI chief led a road caravan in Gujranwala that started from Rahwali, traveled through various important locations across the district throughout the day. Sirajul Haq, Punjab central JI emir Javed Kasuri, general secretary Bilal Qudrat Butt, North Punjab emir Tariq Saleem and others addressed the rally.

In a news conference, Gujrat JI emir Ansar Dhool announced the party candidates for four National Assembly and eight Punjab Assembly seats of Gujrat district.

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2023