LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Sirajul Haq has held the PML-N, the PPP and the PTI equally responsible for the prevailing political and economic crises and reiterated the call for elections.
Addressing a gathering at Mansoorah on Friday, Sirajul Haq said the elections must be held immediately after the poll reforms. The political parties should start working on reforms without any further delay, he added.
The Jamaat-e-Islami, he said, wanted an independent election commission both financially and administratively. He said the role wealth played vicious role in the elections, calling to end it. The ECP must implement laws to stop the use of heaps of wealth by candidates in the election process, he added.
Sirajul Haq asked the government to decrease the prices of petrol and electricity and other commodities. He said the JI would launch the countrywide protest if the government further enhanced the prices of petroleum products and electricity tariff on the direction of the IMF. He said the economy could not strengthen by relying on the foreign loans. He said there was dire need to adopt the Islamic model of economy. End the riba and encourage the zakat and ushar to put the national economy on track, he asked the rulers. The JI was demanding the government give road map to eliminate interest-based economy in the light of the decision of the federal shariah court, he said.
The JI chief said the three parties which ruled over the country for years badly exposed. They were fighting for self-interest, he added, asking the people not to vote for the already tested faces rather to choose the JI to bring real change.
Sirajul Haq expressed regret the governments had not worked to resolve the water problem in past years. There was severe water crisis in Punjab and Sindh, he said, adding the failure of the government to build water reservoirs and manage other water related problems were the reason behind the crisis besides the climate change issue. He said the JI would bring improve in all the sectors if voted to power.