In from the cold: After 2008 boycott ‘mistake’, JI starts flexing political muscle
Leader says they never closed the door on the MMA alliance.
KARACHI:
Elections may be two years away, but political parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, are beginning to form alliances that could help them gain voters come 2013.
“We are going to start talking to all political parties,” Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Hussain Mehanti told The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a press conference at the party’s Karachi office on Wednesday. Whether this will be the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party alliance that contested elections in 2002, will be seen in the weeks ahead. “We never closed the door on the MMA,” Mehanti said.
The party has also formed an internal committee that will be chalking out a course of action.
Mehanti’s own view of the current state of political affairs is grim. “I foresee turmoil and instability until the Senate elections [in 2012].”
Does the party regret boycotting the 2008 elections, given that it could have had a stronger say in the opposition? “I was a parliamentarian in the previous government,” he said. “I think the current opposition is so weak that even if we were represented, we would not have been able to bring about any substantial change either.”
Mehanti also agrees with the assessment that the Awami National Party (ANP) captured a section of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s vote bank in the 2008 elections because of the JI’s boycott. However, he does see the party recouping its losses, particularly because people have seen how the ANP has “taken the city hostage”.
At the press conference, the JI announced it was holding a protest on Friday in Karachi against the increase in the electricity tariff, which the party said was the highest ever in the country’s history and a move that had left residents, businessmen and industrialists worried.
Mohammad Hussain Mehanti opted to side with the government and criticised the Karachi Electric Supply Company, blaming it for cutting off power to residents for 24 to 72 hours, not responding to complaints in time and sending inflated bills. The party plans to mobilise people in Karachi but has not yet decided on a time or location for the protests.
Citing the example of the recent protests in the Punjab that forced the government to act and end long power outages, Mehanti believes that the power of the people can force the government to take notice of the situation in Karachi as well.
However, he did not address the fact that consumers do not pay their bills and are involved in electricity theft. When asked to comment on this part of the picture, he told The Express Tribune, “I believe that stealing electricity and not paying bills is wrong. No citizen has the right to do this because it inconveniences others as well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2011.
Elections may be two years away, but political parties, including the Jamaat-e-Islami, are beginning to form alliances that could help them gain voters come 2013.
“We are going to start talking to all political parties,” Jamaat-e-Islami leader Mohammad Hussain Mehanti told The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a press conference at the party’s Karachi office on Wednesday. Whether this will be the revival of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, a six-party alliance that contested elections in 2002, will be seen in the weeks ahead. “We never closed the door on the MMA,” Mehanti said.
The party has also formed an internal committee that will be chalking out a course of action.
Mehanti’s own view of the current state of political affairs is grim. “I foresee turmoil and instability until the Senate elections [in 2012].”
Does the party regret boycotting the 2008 elections, given that it could have had a stronger say in the opposition? “I was a parliamentarian in the previous government,” he said. “I think the current opposition is so weak that even if we were represented, we would not have been able to bring about any substantial change either.”
Mehanti also agrees with the assessment that the Awami National Party (ANP) captured a section of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s vote bank in the 2008 elections because of the JI’s boycott. However, he does see the party recouping its losses, particularly because people have seen how the ANP has “taken the city hostage”.
At the press conference, the JI announced it was holding a protest on Friday in Karachi against the increase in the electricity tariff, which the party said was the highest ever in the country’s history and a move that had left residents, businessmen and industrialists worried.
Mohammad Hussain Mehanti opted to side with the government and criticised the Karachi Electric Supply Company, blaming it for cutting off power to residents for 24 to 72 hours, not responding to complaints in time and sending inflated bills. The party plans to mobilise people in Karachi but has not yet decided on a time or location for the protests.
Citing the example of the recent protests in the Punjab that forced the government to act and end long power outages, Mehanti believes that the power of the people can force the government to take notice of the situation in Karachi as well.
However, he did not address the fact that consumers do not pay their bills and are involved in electricity theft. When asked to comment on this part of the picture, he told The Express Tribune, “I believe that stealing electricity and not paying bills is wrong. No citizen has the right to do this because it inconveniences others as well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 20th, 2011.