Daily Times

QUETTA: Jamaat-i-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq said on Sunday that former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his family members’ refusal to appear before the accountability court has set a negative precedent, as it would encourage people to disrespect the courts.

He was addressing a public gathering in Quetta on Sunday.

Haq said a law that was not applicable to the rich could not be enforced on the poor either.

“We revolt against the system that does not allow the masses to ask their rulers about sources of their earnings,” he declared.

He said he would give the future line of action on the JI’s Corruption Free Pakistan Campaign in Islamabad on August 21 (today).

Haq said democracy was not about issuing threats to courts during public rallies. The attitude of the ousted premier would have been different if the court had decided in his favour, he said.

Haq said the country’s politics had been taken hostage by a handful of families that were being backed by the international establishment.

“These families believe they have a right over the property and the honour of the poor and if someone asks them about their assets and businesses, they become furious,” Haq said.

“When we talk of accountability, they say democracy is in danger,” he said, “Democracy was not threatened by accountability but by corruption and preservation of a system based on loot and plunder,” he said.

The JI chief said that East Pakistan became Bangladesh because of the ‘ideological corruption of our leaders’. Pakistan had been established on the basis of the kalima and it was being divided on the basis of communities, sects and races, he added.

He said accountability laws should be applied across the board to generals, judges and bureaucrats. He said individuals who could not establish themselves as sadiq and ameen could not become members of the Parliament.

Haq said that those talking about dropping articles 62 and 63 from the constitution might soon start demanding abolition of the constitution.

The JI provincial chief Maulana Abdul Haq Hashmi, Akhundzada Abdul Mateen, Maulana Abdul Kabeer and Jamil Ahmed Mashwani were also present on the occasion.

Speaking to journalists at the Quetta Press Clubs on Saturday, Haq said that Nawaz Sharif should not have staged a march on the GT Road after having accepted the court’s verdict. “His behaviour has only proved that political elite does not respect the judiciary. It is better to go home than to go to jail on corruption charges,” he said.

The JI Ameer said his party had launched its anti-corruption drive 16 months ago, adding that it sought to hold to account all those charged with corruption.

“The government had forced us to file a petition in the Supreme Court. We tried to devise terms of reference for a commission of inquiry over Panama Papers leaks but the government refused to accept them,” he said.

Stressing the need for across-the-board accountability, Haq said his party supported calls for accountability of PML-N, PPP as well as Musharaf’s governments. He sought formation of an impartial accountability system in the country to hold accountable all corrupt elements -politicians, bureaucrats, judges or generals

On restive security situation in Balochistan, the JI amir lamented that the province was bleeding despite allocation of a hefty sum of more than Rs30 billion for security in the province.

Published in Daily Times, August 21^1st 2017.