Islamabad: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Friday strongly criticised what he termed the worst form of democracy prevailing in the country, saying that the continued ban on student unions for over four decades reflected the ruling elite’s fear of grassroots leadership.
Addressing the Ahbab Convention organised by Islami Jamiat Talaba (IJT) Pakistan in Islamabad as the chief guest, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that under the patronage of Western powers, including the United States, several countries-Pakistan among them-were experiencing distorted and ineffective democratic systems that failed to deliver rights to the people. He described Western and American models of democracy, marked by monopoly and oppression, as anti-humanity systems. He said Jamaat-e-Islami was raising its voice for oppressed humanity across the world and was engaged in a struggle for the establishment of a just Islamic system in Pakistan to ensure the protection of public rights.
The JI chief said that student unions had remained banned in Pakistan for more than 40 years, depriving society of emerging leadership from the grassroots. He said that the ruling elite did not want capable leadership to rise from educational institutions, as it threatened their monopoly over power. ‘If student union elections are held in educational institutions, Islami Jamiat Talaba will emerge as a major force,’ he said.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that Islami Jamiat Talaba currently had an organizational presence in educational institutions across 117 districts, but its true strength could not surface due to restrictions on democratic activities on campuses. He called for collective and intensified struggle to end what he described as systemic oppression and an obsolete system. Referring to the separation of East Pakistan, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that despite the creation of Bangladesh, its people remained part of Pakistanis’ body and soul. He said that sentiments of affection for Pakistan and resentment towards India were growing among the people of Bangladesh, adding that Islami Jamiat Talaba had achieved a historic victory in recent student union elections there.
Criticising Western claims of democracy and human rights, he cited Gaza as a stark example, saying thousands had been killed and entire cities reduced to rubble without meaningful global outcry. He said that the US President Donald Trump continued to provide full backing to Israel.
Trump, he added, abducted the president of Venezuela along with his wife and Western powers and the United Nations remained silent upon it. He further said the global capitalist system was facing disintegration and that the fa§ade of Western democracy had been exposed. ‘Only Islam’s just system can fill this vacuum,’ he asserted.