ISLAMABAD, June 6: Jamaat-i-Islami will take part in the local government polls to be held in Islamabad in September.

While announcing the party plans, the JI secretary-general, Islamabad, Mian Muhammad Aslam, said the Jamaat had selected 300 candidates, who would contest the LG polls. He said he himself would fight for the slot of district Nazim.

The JI leader said a committee had been constituted to carry out the election campaign and related activities.

The JI district Amir, Gulandaz Abbasi, is the head of the committee and other members are: Maj (Retd) Tariq Mehmood Khan, Mirza Arshad Mehmood Khan, Raja Ishtiaq Ahmed advocate, Zubair Farooq Khan, Raja Bashir Ahmed, Shahid Latif and Mian Muhammad Aslam.

To a question, the JI Amir said the Jamaat candidates could not contest on all the seats, but almost seven candidates from each ward will take part in the polls.

He said the JI Rabita committees would meet people at various localities to give a final shape to the JI plans.

The JI leader said: “We are contacting the leaders of other political parties including PPP and PML(N) to seek their support for the election of district Nazim.”

He claimed that the Jamaat would be the majority party but its candidates would contest in their individual capacity.

“Jamaat has complete support of people in Islamabad and the number of JI supporters was still increasing.”

Talking about the qualification of JI candidates, he said majority of them had postgraduate degrees and a number of them were retired government officials and traders.

To a question about the JI plans, the JI leader said if came to power, the Jamaat would first of all resolve the accommodation problem for the government employees. “It is one of the biggest problems being faced by the majority of people in the capital, therefore, we would ask the government to provide additional funds for the construction of more residential units.”