Siraj for electoral reforms, fresh polls

08 May, 2022

LAHORE: Emir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Sirajul Haq has said the ‘establishment’ felt embarrassed after the failure of ‘the PTI project’ and it again brought back the former ruling parties into power.

While presiding over a meeting of central political council at Mansoora on Saturday, he said that it had been proved the three big parties nurtured under the umbrella of the establishment and there was no difference among their policies.

The meeting discussed political situation and preparedness for election. The suggestions of the council will be put before Majlis e Shura of JI for consideration and final decisions.

Sirajul Haq said that the country needed fresh polls with electoral reforms. He said the JI wanted the overseas Pakistani must be given voting rights but the Election Commission of Pakistan should develop constituencies for them according to their ratio in different areas.

The government, he said, could also fix special seats for them in national and provincial assemblies. The political parties, he said, should join hand for electoral reforms and they must consider the principle of proportional representation which was successfully adopted by different democracies in the world.

The JI chief warned the government against taking anti-poor decisions on the pressure of the IMF, saying the incumbent rulers should review the agreements with the international lenders instead of making surrender for dollars.

The government, he said, must abolish VIP culture, interest-based economy, non-developmental expenditures and take other measures in light of Islamic teachings to build the economy.

He said he saw no differences in the policies of the former and present government. There was no check to inflation and the prices of food items were going up with every day passing, he said. The government, he added, increased the electricity tariff and it was set to raise petrol prices on the pressure of the IMF.

Siraj said the ruling elite were least bothered for the poor masses. It had been proved that three parties (the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI) failed to provide any relief to the people. They were only worried for the protection of self-interest, he said, adding achieving backing of the establishment and international lending agencies and powers were the only objective of theirs.

He said the JI wanted to change the system as on April 10 only a face was changed. Just another person came to power to protect the system which already failed to deliver, he said.

Siraj said Islamic system guarantees the welfare of humanity and since the country was created in the name of Islam, the system based on Islamic teachings could put Pakistan on track. He said if voted to power, the JI would bring real change, build economy on Islamic model and introduce land reforms. He said the JI would distribute government lands among agriculture graduates and introduce Zakat based system of economy.

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