Fair polls linked to free ECP

LAHORE

Jamaat-e-Islami Secretary General Liaqat Baloch has said the establishment’s interference in election system must come to an end.

Addressing the participants of JI central workshop at Mansoora, he said fair and free elections were not possible unless the election commission was made independent and autonomous in all respects. The JI secretary general said criminals and plunderers managed to reach the assemblies by exploiting the weaknesses of the electoral system and by spending billions of their ill-gotten wealth. In this way, he said, the elements who should be behind the bars entered the corridors of power.

He said the government policies were a failure and in the prevailing conditions, the dream of peace could not be realised. He said that in order to restore peace and end terrorism, the police be freed from political interference. Liaqat Baloch said that cordial Pak-Afghan relations were essential for the restoration of peace in the region. However, he said the US and India were busy in conspiracies to worsen the ties between the two Muslim states. Indian agencies are infiltrating their trained terrorists into Pakistan through Afghanistan for terrorist activities.

He said the secular parties were seeking guidance from Washington and New York and as long as these parties were in power, they would continue to harm the ideological identity of the country.

On the other hand, the JI was endeavouring for the election of honest, patriotic and competent people to the assemblies.