LAHORE : Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Sirajul Haq has said the country could not go ahead without introducing wide-ranging reforms in all major sectors.

As the present system benefits the ruling elite, they would never be interested to change it, he said while talking to different delegations at Mansoora on Thursday.

“People should make a peaceful democratic struggle to send the status quo forces to home,” he said, adding the PTI continued the policies of the past government and only made lies that it was an agent of “change.”

He criticized the government one-sided electoral reforms agenda, terming it a plan of pre-poll rigging.

The government so-called reform agenda, he said, overshadowed the critical issues which were hurdles in fairness of electoral process.

There was need to address the issue of unbridled use of money in elections and influence of government and state officials in the electoral process, he said, the Election Commission should be powerful and independent. But, he said, he was afraid the status quo forces would never pay attention to the basic problems as the current system suited them.

Sirajul Haq said the prime minister made tall claims to end corruption but the evil was still there rather the international agencies noted the rise in corruption in PTI government’s three years, he added.

The inflation and unemployment were major problems which the government failed to address despite making promises, he said, adding a common Pakistani could not afford purchasing of basic needs.

The JI chief said the PTI was the agent of the status quo like the PML-N and the PPP. He said the people were desperate from the policies of the present government and wanted to get rid of it.

He appealed the people to vote for the JI in the coming election to bring real change and transform Pakistan into Madina state.