ISLAMABAD/LAHORE: Acting Emir Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Liaqat Baloch has made it clear that the JI will not support any party’s candidate in Lahore’s NA-133 by-poll.

Talking to journalists after addressing condolence reference for Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan at Islamabad’s National Press Club on Tuesday, Liaqat Baloch said the JI would contest next election under its own flag and electoral symbol without entering into alliance with the tested parties. There was no difference among the policies of the PTI, the PML-N and the PPP, he said and at the same time appeal to the people to support the JI’s struggle to transform Pakistan into a welfare Islamic state. He said the PTI made tall claims to bring change but failed to bring reforms even in a single sector in over three years. Corruption, inflation and unemployment turned the life of people miserable as the ruling party lacked capacity to fix the problems, he said.

Liawat Baloch said the IMF had virtually taken over control of the country’s economy as interest-based financial system ruined the different sectors.

Meanwhile, JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim demanded the rulers resolve the problems of the people of Gwadar. In a statement issued from Mansoorah after a visit of Balochistan, he said the sit-in of the local fishermen in the port city continued for days but the government was not listening to their demands. The government, he said, must open Iran border to resume the import of basis items of daily need for the locals. He said the unauthorised check posts in the area must end. The rulers, he said, should start dialogue with the angry Baloch people to resolve the Balochistan crisis.