Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Sunday said a tragedy was inflicted on Karachi as MQM-P's MPAs compromised the political mandate of Karachiites for the sake of monetary gains. "Voters from Karachi have right to ask MQM at what price they sold the urban Sindh's mandate and why did it compromise its own ideology," he said, addressing the "Meet the Press," programme at Karachi Press Club (KPC).
He said the Jamaat would protect the mandate of this metropolis. He reiterated JI would soon conduct Karachi Youth Elections, primarily aimed at producing competent and loyal leaders from within the youth who would later lead the local bodies' elections as well as the next general elections. The JI chief said Senators were selected on the basis of money, instead of fair elections.
He urged the Chief Justice of Pakistan to summon all the wining candidates and take oath from every individual whether they bought votes or not. He Senators who had splurged millions of rupees on purchase of Senate seats would not bother to strive for the resolution of public issues. He said such senators would be concerned about how to make more money.
Siraj also urged SC and Election Commission to come up with a comprehensive strategy to steer the country out of political corruption, otherwise, he apprehended, people would lose their trust in ballot box and democracy. "Wealth triumphed over ideology and politics," he said, accusing Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari of offering huge chunk of money in the Senate elections.
"Parties that have always been beating drums of democracy are, in fact, property of the handful wealthiest elites who have no respect for democratic norms, he said. He said the JI believed in true democracy. He said there was no alternate to democracy for resolving the country's issues.
Siraj said he had proposed to the Election Commission to conduct intra-party elections under its own supervision, but to no avail. He said JI would continue to work for the election reforms. He said MQM had been enjoying city's mandate for nearly three decades but it had done nothing for the city. He said MQM was divided not for public cause, but for vested interest.
"Jamaat-e-Islami is consulting its lawyers to approach the court of law against continues hike in oil prices," he said and also vowed to stiffly resist the government's move regarding privatization of major public entities such as Pakistan Still Mills and PIA. The JI chief also urged the religio-political parties to unite under one platform to avoid split of their vote-bank.
Earlier, in his welcome address, KPC president Ahmad Khan Malik said, JI was one of the major political parties of the country whose leaders have not been accused of corruption. He said JI has inspired youth of country to adopt its ideology and vision through its literature. He also hailed JI's philanthropic work not only in the country, but also abroad. KPC secretary Maqsood Ahamd Yousufi also spoke. JI Karachi chapter's chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman was also present on this occasion.
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