Jamaat-e-Islami ready to facilitate dialogue process among political parties: Sirajul Haq

LAHORE, July 26 (SABAH): Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Sirajul Haq has called for grand dialogue among political parties in parliament.

Addressing a press conference at Mansoorah on Tuesday, he said the country could no longer afford the worst polarization as the dialogue was the only option left to bring Pakistan out of prevailing crises. The Jamaat-e-Islami was ready to host the negotiation if the political parties were willing, he said.

The ruling parties, he said, had already converted the parliament into rubber stamp-body and one of them was criticizing the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). It was first time in the history that political leaders and workers were openly attacking the judges of the Supreme Court, he said.

The situation, he added, had reached to the point where every institution was made controversial.“Don’t drag the judiciary into political conflicts,” he suggested to the politicians, asking them to reflect maturity and come to the table to settle their disputes. In case of politicians’ failure, he warned, the country could meet an irreparable loss.

He also criticized three ruling parties for seeking establishment support time and again to remain in power, saying the latter also came under severe criticism for not keeping its neutrality intact defined in the Constitution of Pakistan.

The role of establishment, he said, was being questioned frequently particularly after the General Election of 2018. The Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaf, he added, had failed to deliver in three-and-half years and now the coalition government of the PDM and the PPP was also following the past policies, ignoring the masses who were under constant burden of inflation and faced hours long load-shedding.

Hundreds died and thousands of houses washed away in rains and floods in parts of the country, he said, adding the rulers had long been abandoned the poor, focusing on the protection of their own interests.

To a question, he said the election without reforms would prove a futile exercise, considering the prevailing situation. No one would be ready to accept the polls’ results if they held without the agreement of political players on election process, he said.

The Jamaat-e-Islami, he said, wanted polls under the principle of proportional representation, adding it was the only way to get rid of the politics of electable.

He said the institutions and politicians should surrender before the Constitution. The JI, he said, wanted the supremacy of law and Islamic system in the country.  JI Deputy Secratry General Muhammad Ashgar and Information Secretary Qaisar Sharif were also present during the presser.