LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Saturday criticised the government for creating a martial law-like situation in the country by suppressing the people’s right to democratic expression and holding protests.

Speaking at a press conference at Mansoora on Saturday, he demanded the government allow political parties to hold peaceful protests in Islamabad and restore normalcy. He criticised the deployment of the army in the federal capital on the pretext of providing security for the upcoming SCO conference, days before the event.

“The government must refrain from pitting the army against its own people,” he said, adding that any military deployment should be reserved for the duration of the conference itself only.

Rehman stated that the current government, formed through a rigged mandate and fraudulent Form 47, lacked both moral and democratic legitimacy to make critical decisions. He urged the government to recognise this fact and work to restore a sense of normalcy.

Urges it to refrain from pitting army against people

At a time when Gaza is under siege and Israeli atrocities have reached alarming levels, Rehman said, Islamabad should be leading efforts to convene a summit of the Muslim nations to deliver a clear message to Israel to immediately halt its aggression against Palestinians. Instead, he lamented, the government resorted to using force against its own citizens, sending the wrong message to Gaza.

The JI, he noted, made efforts to forge a united stance between the government and opposition parties to mark Oct 7 as Palestine Solidarity Day, commemorating one year of Israeli aggression.

While the government, acting on the JI’s proposal, has agreed to hold an all-parties conference on Gaza on that date, and officially declared it as Palestine Solidarity Day, Rehman stressed that the domestic situation must first be normalised. He called on the government to remove the containers blocking Islamabad and major cities in Punjab, which have paralysed the movement of millions of citizens.

In response to a question, he criticised the Supreme Court’s ruling on Article 63A, calling it anti-democratic and appealed to the court to rescind the decision.

He also rejected the proposed constitutional amendment and the establishment of a constitutional court, urging opposition parties to fully oppose it rather than engage in discussions over its provisions.

The JI emir condemned reports of the potential arrest of the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), warning the government against such actions, and advised the KP CM to focus on governance in his province rather than leading protests.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2024