JI starts preparations for general elections

LAHORE
Jamaat-e-Islami has started formal preparations for contesting next general elections and formulating its strategy and selection of candidates.
The process began on Monday with a meeting chaired by JI Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq and attended by central office-bearers. The meeting reviewed the NA constituencies all over the country and decided its priorities regarding the local government elections in Punjab and Sindh. Addressing the meeting, Sirajul Haq said if political parties fielded honest and capable persons, the country could be freed from corruption, nepotism and lawlessness. He demanded the election commission to permit only those candidates for contesting the elections whose past record proved that they were not involved in plunder of public exchequer nor had been proved dishonest in any manner. He said the articles 62 and 63 of the Constitution must be implemented in letter and spirit in the electoral process.
Sirajul Haq said a number of criminals had taken shelter under political parties’ umbrella only to hide their crimes. He said those who reached assemblies through the power of their wealth only aimed at minting money by any means. Such people had taken politics and democracy hostage, he said, adding that capitalists and feudal lords win elections by pumping in millions of rupees and then multiply them to earn billions of rupees profit at the expense of public welfare. He urged upon the election commission to strictly implement the limits of expenditures in election campaigns to restrict those who want to enter assemblies with the help of their wealth.