LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami General Secretary Liaquat Baloch has said that the prime minister’s priority is to protect personal and family interests and to provoke the masses against the court decision which would be detrimental to the democratic system.
Addressing a high-level consultative body of the JI at Mansoora, he said the strategy of the federal cabinet and the ruling party was above the law, all principles and morality, and based only on obstinacy.
He further said that after the JIT report, the ruling party wanted to pollute the political atmosphere to protect its own interests during the accountability before the Supreme Court.
Liaqat Baloch said that the democratic forces in the country could agree on a common stance and force the PM to relinquish his office till the accountability process was completed.
He said the majority party in the National Assembly should elect a new leader of the House in accordance with the Constitution. He further stressed that consensus should also be developed on electoral reforms.
He said that he had already contacted political leaders including Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, Mian Manzur Wattoo, Allama Syed Sajid Ali Naqvi, Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer and they had agreed at arriving at a common line of action to overcome the present crisis.
Liaqat Baloch said that fresh elections could be held only if the prime minister dissolved the Assembly, adding that elections held in an abnormal situation would not be in anyone’s interest.
He, however, said that if the majority parties in the National Assembly and all the provincial assemblies developed a consensus for dissolving the assemblies to hold fresh elections, this would be welcome.
Liaqat Baloch, however, said that the accountability process should not be disrupted by creating disturbances as it was essential to overcome the present political crisis and also to pull the country out of poverty and ignorance.