Bringing the fight to the youth

Jamaat-e-Islami organises youth elections to resolve city’s issues

KARACHI:  

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Sirajul Haq has said that the party’s ongoing youth elections will foster leadership, which will play an effective role in solving grass root problems of the city.

“Jamaat-e-Islami will introduce young leadership into mainstream politics,” he vowed, announcing that the about 50% tickets for the upcoming general elections will also be reserved for youngsters of Karachi.

He made this announcement on his Sunday during his visit to Liaquatabad’s Daak Khana Chowrangi where the party is overseeing the second phase of its youth elections. Haq reviewed the polling process and preparations for the elections and met various panels, nominees and secretaries responsible for the task.

He was accompanied by party leaders such as Sindh amir Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, Karachi amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, naib amir Dr Osama Razi, secretary Abdul Wahab, information secretary Zahid Askari, District West amir Munam Zafar and JI youth president Hafiz Bilal Ramzan.



The JI chief accused General Pervez Musharraf of defaming Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, vowing that the party will transfer the spirit of the great scientist into every young citizen of the country. He also vowed to use the party’s platform to construct libraries and laboratories in the city.

He accused corrupt and cowardly leaders of being behind the downfall of state institutions, saying that India and the United States kept exercising their hegemony over the country.

“The country is more threatened by corrupt elements and black sheep than it is by external enmities,” said Haq, adding that Karachi had been turned into a heap of problems and that both the district and provincial governments had failed to deliver results.

The JI head lamented that the country’s largest city remained deprived of electricity and clean drinking water, claiming that the party was committed to using all constitutional, legal and democratic resources in its struggle for the masses.



He lambasted K-Electric and the government for their failure to actively solve the load-shedding menace in Karachi, warning that protests in front of Chief Minister House would be held if concrete measures are not taken to resolve the issue by next week. “We will stage a protest outside CM House on April 20 [Friday] and if the citizens still do not get relief, we will hold a strike in Karachi on April 27,” he warned, appealing to residents of the city to actively take part in the upcoming demonstrations.

On May 6, JI will hold a large public gathering comprising of the city’s youth and winners of its youth elections, Haq announced, adding that the meeting will also decide future course of action for the party.

The second phase of the party’s youth elections saw polls for 105 union councils between 220 panels representing Karachi’s District Central, District East and Bin Qasim Town. Polling started at 9am and continued uninterrupted until 7pm.

"Pakistan is full of youngsters and we are determined to not let them down,” Haq announced, vowing to empower the youth of the city and give them opportunities to have leadership roles. He appealed to other political parties to follow this course and bring youngsters into the leadership front.

The JI chief lamented that only two National Assembly members were aged below 30 against international benchmarks of at least 10% youth representation. “Our youngsters are amongst the world’s most competent, hardworking and intelligent people,” he praised, lauding 10-year-old Shaheer Niazi for authoring a scientific paper on Newton’s level and 10-year-old Arfa Kareem who surprised everyone with her software skills. He blamed incompetent leadership and poor governance for the city’s backwardness and lamented that a survey revealed that over 49% of the city’s youth were considering moving abroad for a brighter future.



“Seven million youngsters have already left the country while another 6.7 million have turned into drug addicts,” he claimed.

Haq lamented that the world was reaching the moon and Mars while 22 million children were not going to school in Pakistan. “The rulers spend a lot of money to maintain VIP culture, but for education only 2.6% of the amount was spent,” he alleged, adding that the corruption and incompetence of the rulers had destroyed national institutions.

The JI amir pointed out that Pakistan International Airlines was in a loss of Rs33 billion while Pakistan Steel Mills were at a loss of Rs177 billion. He noted that the Pakistan Steel Mills is almost closed, while employees are not paid their salaries for many months and retired employees are also not being paid their dues.

Haq lamented that the youth were unemployed and had no hope, despite possessing degrees while more is lost in corruption then what is spent on defence.

“The leaders are living the lives of kings while the public is deprived of basic necessities. The loans of the country can be paid if the looted wealth is brought back to Pakistan,” he said, urging the youth to side with JI in the quest to get rid of kingship in the country.