KARACHI: Extending support to the beleaguered Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Monday approached the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and asked it to withdraw the election symbols of the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in line with the Supreme Court decision that deprived the party of Imran Khan of its iconic poll symbol ‘bat’.

In a letter to the ECP, the JI came up with veiled support to the PTI and questioned the move of the constitutional body which took action against only one party for not holding free and fair intra-party elections, but “giving walkovers” to other major parties including the PML-N and PPP for allegedly violating the same requirement.

“I ask the ECP which party in Pakistan, except for the Jamaat-i-Islami, meets the requirement of intra-party elections,” JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman told a press conference at the party Idara Noor-i-Haq headquarters. “You [ECP] deprive one of the major parties [PTI] of its election symbol on technical ground, but allow the two other parties [PML-N & PPP] despite the same violation. It’s a double standard and we reject it.”

Referring to his letter to the chief election commissioner, he demanded an action against the PML-N and PPP in the same spirit and to deprive them of their poll symbols before the Feb 8 elections.

Hafiz Naeem extends support to beleaguered PTI

Called the PPP the “party of feudal lords”, he said: “The PPP and PML-N are not political parties, but family limited companies which have never showed a sign of democratic norm in their culture, attitude and electoral strategies.”

“We respect parties’ mandate but can’t accept the decisions based on biased lines which deprive one party for violating one rule, but facilitate others for the same illegality. This is not justice and this is not election. The term level-playing field has become a joke.”

He “reminded” the people of Karachi that they would have no other chance but his party as their representative in the National Assembly and Sindh Assembly as their past rulers had proved their loyalty only with “corruption, bad governance and nepotism”.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2024