Martial law warning a futile effort to escape accountability: Siraj

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq ruled out possibility of martial law in the country, and said those warning the people of martial law were making a futile effort to escape accountability.

Talking to reporters at Mansoora on Friday on the first day of three-day JI Shoora meeting, he said it was the age of democracy and masses would neither support the undemocratic forces nor tolerate them.

Sirajul Haq said the prime minister and his family members were repeatedly talking of conspiracies but were not disclosing who was hatching conspiracies against them or the nation. He said the rulers had come down to hurling threats on the people but threats were made only after one had lost all arguments. He said nobody could be cowed down by threats.

“If the PM has not done any wrong, why should he be fearful”, he said, and wondered how many secrets the premier was withholding from the nation. Sirajul Haq said Panama scandal had started with the PM and it would not end until the scandals of around 450 other characters of the story were also exposed. He said the corrupt elements were changing parties in order to hide their corruption, and advised the political parties they must not accept such elements into their folds. He said he wanted the Supreme Court to decide the case as early as possible so that the unrest among the masses was over and Pakistan could emerge as a corruption-free state in the comity of the nations. He said even if some five to six thousand persons had to be jailed to secure the future of our coming generations, it  would not be a bad bargain.

Earlier, addressing the JI meeting, Sirajul Haq said the satanic forces all over the world were trying their utmost to obstruct the emergence of Islam as a political force. In Bangladesh, he said, 90-year old Prof Ghulam Azam had been driven to death in jail and medical help was denied to him till the last breath. Many of his colleagues had been executed. A reputed scholar like Yousuf Al-Qarzavi was declared terrorist and his family members were being victimised. 

To a question on Fata, Sirajul Haq said the British legacy gave the political agent more powers than a king and a whole family or tribe was punished for the crime of an individual. However, he said, it was time that this black law was repealed for good.

Meanwhile, speaking at a workshop for political workers, JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch said instead of raising hue and cry and creating political confusion, the PM should show his strength in the parliament and expose the conspiracies against him. He alleged that the rulers and the government officials had been hurling threats on the JIT members. He said it was essential to protect the state institutions against the blind state power to ensure true accountability.

He said parliamentary democracy was the best form of government for Pakistan. He said if the Constitution was implemented in its true spirit, the civil and military relations would improve. He said any mechanism over and above the Constitution was always dangerous for democracy as also the national unity and harmony.

Liaqat Baloch also called for immediate announcement of census results and fresh delimitation of the constituencies of national and provincial assemblies on their basis. At the same time, he said, final recommendations of the parliamentary committee for electoral reforms should also be presented in National Assembly and Senate to enable the political parties, electoral experts and analysts to give their view on these.