JI to make a Pakistan where Altaf can return without fear: Siraj

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq said that the JI wanted to make a Pakistan where MQM chief Altaf Hussain could return without any fear.
“There is no place for the people in the prevailing democracy in Pakistan. There is no linguistic or ethnic issue in Pakistan but the real issue is of the oppressors and oppressed in the country”, he said, while addressing a reception at the Karachi Bar Council (KBC) here on Saturday.
He said, “Pakistan is not the name of nationalities but it is the name of a philosophy. Today we are living the life of slaves. Our nation is still under the occupation of the elite class. All the institutions of the country are in the possession of capitalists and the feudal class,” he added.
Earlier the institution of the media was independent but now it had been made hostage by the ruling elite, he remarked. “It now works to the dictates of the ruling elite,” he said and added, “The ruling elite is so powerful that it makes anyone a hero or a zero at any time on its sweet will.”
He went on to say that politics had become a business in Pakistan and democracy had been made its sport by the capitalists and ruling elite. There was no place for the people in the existing democracy. Whosoever was not a billionaire could never become a member of the assembly, senator, president or prime minister. “The poor are becoming poorer day-by-day and the rich becoming richer in the country,” he added.
“Pakistan is not facing a threat of as much magnitude from external enemies as what it is facing from the capitalists sitting in Islamabad,” he said and added, “The capitalists are plundering Pakistan with both hands.
Pakistan was created by the Quaid-i-Azam and Allama Iqbal in the name of Islam; he said, adding a conspiracy was being hatched to divide Pakistan into nationalities. “Together we will have to thwart this conspiracy,” he held.
“Pakistan is not for any nation or ruling elite or feudal class but our forefathers have got it liberated by rendering supreme sacrifices,” he underlined.
“The bar has always sided with politics and democracy,” he said adding the Quaid-i-Azam was a lawyer but he rendered his services in the field of politics as well,” he said.
Meanwhile, Sirajul Haq urged the women belonging to the NA-246 constituency to come out in large numbers and exercise their right of vote during the forthcoming by-elections in NA-246 on April 23.
Addressing an electioneering meeting on Shahrah-e-Pakistan for women workers of JI here he said that the Karachiites were being provided an opportunity to restore the lost glory of the metropolis known for its enlightenment and hence all must play their due role for the cause.
He maintained that the JI strongly believed in women’s empowerment in its truest sense and also supported their right to play an active role in the socio-economic and political development of the country.
Women participants of the meeting demanded the presence of the Rangers in all polling booths, installation of close circuit video cameras on each of these besides installation of biometric and foolproof arrangements ensuring that no outsider was allowed to access the polling centres in the constituency.
The JI women workers were extremely confident of their party’s victory in the NA-246 by-polls.