Shura decisions announced: JI to support Constitution, democratic system: Siraj

Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq has said the JI Shura at its meeting held here on Wednesday resolved to support the Constitution and the democratic system and not be a party to any movement that could threaten the Constitution. While talking to media persons at the JI headquarters, Mansoora, he said the entire nation was worried about the sit-ins. He said the government, the PTI and the PAT had got used to the sit-in but the masses were praying for an early end to the political crisis.
He said the JI would hold a three-day Ijtema (congregation) at the historic Minar-e-Pakistan grounds in Lahore in November next with a renewed spirit of the Pakistan movement and for the completion of true Pakistan in line with the dreams of the Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Muhammad Iqbal. He said the country was being ruled by capitalists, feudal lords, and Waderas and not by the people.
He said that none of the three parties had sent its response to the opposition Jirga's recommendations. He said he could not say what had been the government reaction to the PTI-PAT demands. "Our job was to break the deadlock and resume the talks," he said, and added that "We will soon call a meeting of the political Jirga and meet the two sides to work out a respectable way out of the crisis in two phases."
In the first phase, a meeting of the major political parties would be held and a solution of the political impasse would be worked out through consensus. In the second phase, the proposal would be placed before the both sides. He said the political Jirga had the backing of the masses. He said he was not disappointed and was hopeful that a solution would be found out amicably. He said it was not wise to drag in the armed forces and the judiciary into political issues. He said the parties staging sit-in talked about transparent elections and the supremacy of the Constitution, and "we would like these people to return home happily".
To the MQM proposal for carving out 20 more provinces in the country, Sirajul Haq remarked that so far, the rulers were unable to run four provinces smoothly. If the rulers are able to govern the four existing provinces efficiently, the masses could agree on the creation of more provinces.
Sirajul Haq said the JI Shura had expressed deep concern over the government failure to provide timely relief to the flood-affected millions. He said that flood preventive measures had not been adopted at the government level due to which the people had to suffer huge losses. "The rulers observe Karbala every evening but this can't compensate for the heavy losses of life and property of the masses," he added.
The JI chief said the need of the hour was that all the political parties agreed on a roadmap for flood protection and their total control and the next government should implement the roadmap. To another question, he said, that another one hundred dams could be built in the country however there should be national consensus over the issues. He said like the previous government, the present rulers had not allocated any funds for the construction of big dams. The JI chief said a coterie of self-seeking politicians had kept the country away from its ideology and goal, and added that the JI would, Insha Allah, eject this coterie from the corridors of power.