DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) former emir Sirajul Haq has advocated for creating smaller provinces, saying respective provincial assemblies had passed resolutions to establish the Hazara and Bahawalpur provinces.

Talking to Dawn here on Friday, he said that former princely states such as Bahawalpur and Kalat could also be restored. Asking opposition parties to work together, Mr Haq said they should formulate a joint strategy to pave the way for holding transparent elections. He said the JI would present proposals for electoral reforms, adding that there was currently no forum for such a process.

He urged opposition parties to sit together to work out a mechanism for holding transparent elections.

He criticised the existing arrangements for elections, saying that supervision by the judiciary and the military had failed to ensure transparent polls. “Should we now approach the United Nations?” he asked.

He said that US influence had waned and called for its withdrawal from the region. “The era of the US hegemony has ended. Its bases have been closed, and now it will have to leave,” he said. He said federal ministers had acknowledged that the system had collapsed but they were unwilling to accept responsibility.

He alleged that the country was facing widespread corruption, inflation, unemployment, insecurity and terrorism, while people remained deprived of basic facilities.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2026