LAHORE: Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said neither President, PM, nor any general is above the Constitution and that in the Constitution of Pakistan ultimate sovereignty belongs only to Allah (SWT). No one is above the Constitution. With the 27th Amendment the judiciary has been reduced to a minority while the government has become the majority, he remarked.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman expressed these views while addressing the Multan District Bar Association. Present on the occasion were District Bar President Malik Amjad Ali Dogar, District Bar Secretary Malik Adnan Ahmed, President of the Islamic Lawyers Movement Athar Aziz Advocate, and ILM Multan President Rafi Raza Advocate.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman maintained that the entire arrangement has been made to subdue and humiliate the judiciary; these people did not respect the judiciary before, and now, by dishonouring it, they are bent on its elimination. The President, the Chief of Staff, or any other senior official are not exempt from accountability.
He said this amendment is contrary to the Constitution and is unacceptable under any circumstances. Our history is luminous and glorious; a system of accountability is so essential that even the Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) submitted himself to accountability, he said and added the Prophet Muhammad (SAWW) said that if Fatimah bint Muhammad were to steal, her hand should be cut off. Early nations were destroyed because they punished the poor and spared the rich, he remarked.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that in countries where parties run as hereditary properties, it is no surprise that the Constitution and law are manipulated. A system is functioning in the country that is against the Constitution and democracy. As a nation we must all promote democracy. In Pakistan, elections for lawyers and for Jamaat-e-Islami are held on time, whereas those who sing praises of democracy do not even hold elections within their own parties, he unfolded.
Emir JI said Pakistan has an interest-based (usurious) economy. This system is making the rich richer and the poor poorer. The government claims that the Benazir Income Support Programme reduced poverty, but the World Bank’s report shows that poverty has increased in the past three years and that the number of people living below the poverty line is continuously rising, he said. The Benazir Income Support Programme has not benefited the poor. The country is ruled by sugar and flour mafias that leave nothing for the farmers. In the last financial year the salaried class paid 500 billion rupees in taxes. “What kind of system is this that places a heavier burden on the poor and salaried classes while charging less from landlords, feudal lords, and capitalists?” he questioned.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that we want the IPP (Independent Power Producers) mafia defeated; our sit-in (dharna) led much saving. Because of our sit-in the public received electricity at a lower rate by 7.5 rupees per unit. He said, “We recovered billions of rupees for people from Bahria Town Karachi. We want the nation to free itself from the clutches of mafias and come towards an Islamic system of justice and fairness.”
He said the Jamaat-e-Islami’s all-Pakistan Ijtima-e-Aam to be held at Minar-e-Pakistan, Lahore from 21 to 23 November is a movement to uproot this oppressive system. “I invite the lawyers and the people of southern Punjab to attend the Ijtima-e-Aam so that through an effective and successful movement we can achieve liberation from this tyrannical system,” he concluded.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025