2018 general elections seem to be uncertain: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Sirajul Haq has said that the 2018 elections seem to be uncertain and some people are raising dust by talking of a national and technocrat government.

He was talking to the media at Mansoora after the opening session of the JI Shoroa on Monday.

Sirajul Haq said that the undemocratic attitude of the rulers had done great harm to the democratic system in the country. However, he added that the cure of a weak democracy was also democracy.

He said that the Pakistan Muslim League PML(N) government was mired in corruption. Their leader Nawaz Sharif had been disqualified, Ishaq Dar had been sacked, the law minister had resigned and the clouds of despondency were visible on the faces of the other ministers as well.

The JI chief further said that in order to overcome despair, it was imperative to establish the supremacy of the constitution, make sure that the elections were held on schedule and that a strict accountability of the corrupt was carried out.

Sirajul Haq said that there were many other names in the Panama leaks but it was the names of the rulers at the top which brought shame to the nation as a whole.

He said that the JI Shoora had decided to continue its drive against corruption till the accountability of each and every plunderer. However, he said that this would not be made into an excuse to delay the elections.

Sirajul Haq announced a long march from Jamarud to Islamabad in support of FATA’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the abolition of the FCR.  He welcomed the extension of the jurisdiction of the supreme court and the high court to the FATA.

However, he added that until and unless the articles 246 and 247 of the constitution were not abolished and the powers of the president and the prime minister regarding FATA were repealed, the tribal people could not be guaranteed their legal rights.