PESHAWAR, May 18: Lack of financial resources, no coordination among the religious parties and less exposure among the masses have kept the Jamaat-i-Islami out of power right from its inception till to-date.

Talking to PPI at Al-Markaz-i-Islami, Provincial Amir of JI Prof Mohammad Ibrahim said that politics had become a “game of money” and in this race the JI had failed due to the lack of financial resources.

He said that the leaders of political parties spent money during elections and then after coming into power they indulged in plundering of national wealth to recover their “investment”.

About the JI, he said that the party could not allow its members to use money in this manner.

Talking about another factor behind failure of the JI, Mohammed Ibrahim admitted that their less and limited exposure had equally contributed to their failure. He, however, added that this was the case with all the religious parties.

The Jamaat leader said that the party had left the field to two looters, adding that the people had no choice but to select one of them.

Prof Ibrahim expressed the hope that this time the religious parties would be able to come up to the expectations of the people in the coming elections and provide people an alternative choice.

He said another factor behind failure of religious parties was internal differences and rivalries which created hurdles in the way of their success.

In this connection, he cited the example of accord reached between Nawaz Sharif and the JI, and the JUI alliance with Benazir Bhutto, and added that both the religious parties achieved nothing from their alliances.

The JI leader said that to avoid the mistakes of the past, the religious parties had formed Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, an electoral alliance for the coming elections, adding the religious parties would be successful in getting the support of the masses this time.

About the conditions laid down by the World Bank and the IMF, Prof Ibrahim said that successive rulers obtained loans from these agencies and spent them on useless projects.

He said once Pakistan defaulted on its loans, these agencies would stop offering loans to Pakistan, which would be a good thing as Pakistan was a resource-rich country and did not need loans.

About the presence of American FBI agents in Pakistan, the JI leader said the country was passing through a critical phase and said the government should exercise extreme caution in helping the US troops in their anti-terror campaign. —PPI