The fifth chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sirajul Haq was sworn in on Wednesday at the party headquarters in Mansoora.
Addressing the ceremony, Haq said that he was not in any way better than Munawar Hasan, the man who he takes over from as the JI chief. “There are many individuals here who are more qualified than me for this position,” he said. “I was given this burden by the members of the Jamaat, which is why I have accepted this responsibility.”
A senior minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, 52-year-old Haq previously held the position of deputy chief of JI, and is the second party chief from KP – the first being the late Qazi Hussain Ahmed, who took charge in 1987.
Sirajul Haq was elected on March 30 with 25,533 members of the party casting their vote in secret balloting, and was chosen over nominees that included the incumbent Munawar Hasan and Liaquat Baloch to lead the party for the next five years. With this change, Munawar Hasan becomes the first JI chief who has been unable to secure a second term in office.