Some people want to end democracy in country: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Ameer Maulana Sirajul Haq has said that some people wanted to bring democracy to an end in the country as the issues being faced by the country could not be discussed while sitting in London.

He rejected the plan to form an opposition alliance in London and demanded of the leaders gathered there to come back to the country and try to correct things here.Talking to the media after chairing a party meeting at Mansoora on Sunday, Sirajul Haq said a clash among the institutions would harm democracy. JI Secretary General Liaquat Baloch, other leaders and workers were also present.

The JI Ameer said instead of destabilising the government, the opposition should give the rulers time to deliver and find out solutions to people’s problems.He said the PTI Chairman Imran Khan had the right to protest against the ‘rigging’ in elections as “the Election Commission had failed to conduct impartial, free and fair elections”.

The JI Ameer asked the government to announce a special package of Rs100 billion each for Karachi and the tribal areas for rehabilitation of the people affected by terrorism there. He urged the PM to expose those who wanted to sabotage the peace talks with the Taliban.

The JI leader alleged that the PM’s evasion of Kashmir and water issues during his visit to India and avoiding a meeting with the Hurriyat Conference leadership sent a negative message to the people of Kashmir. He said the people of Pakistan were standing with their Kashmiri brothers in their struggle for freedom.

He advised the government to go through its election manifesto once again and implement it instead of complaining against the people’s wrath.Sirajul Haq said the tribal people were patriotic and had equal rights to the country’s resources. The government should launch education and health schemes in the tribal areas and create jobs for them.

He said the political parties had given the government the mandate for peace talks, but it had started an operation there without taking the parties into confidence. As a result, the tribal people had become sandwiched between the government and the Taliban.

He urged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to visit North and South Waziristan to get cooperation from the tribal people. Meanwhile, addressing the annual meeting of the IJT, the JI chief said the elements talking of secularism were in fact going against the will of the Father of the Nation, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, and the Constitution.