Political strategies: JI chief terms political environment positive

It is ‘premature’ to discuss JI’s alliance with PTI, says Munawwar Hasan.

KARACHI: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) called a press conference on Friday to offer its two cents on this week’s biggest issues. But the questions lobbed at the party head, Syed Munawwar Hasan, were all about alliance building and pre-election strategies.

Hasan said it was “premature” to discuss whether the party would, as rumoured, form an alliance with Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

According to Hasan, the political environment created with the number of rallies and events was a positive thing, but it was too early to think about election alliances. In any case, he said, “Electoral politics is alliance-based politics, and it is not possible for any party in Pakistan to work without being in one.”

However, he did not comment on a revival of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) but said that the party would explore all options if the MMA could not be reformed in its original state.

Hasan accused the government of “stabbing the Kashmir cause in the back” by granting India MFN (most favoured nation) status.

According to the JI head, economists provided mixed answers on the MFN issue. “People said that even China trades with India but they are comparing a very large country to Pakistan,” he said. When pressed on whether this meant that the JI was against the MFN status, Hasan clarified that it was. The government, he said, needs to present its policy and reasoning in parliament to clarify the issue.

He also touched on many of the usual themes that dominate JI’s agenda.

He reiterated the responsibility of the international community in resolving the Kashmir issue and noting human rights violations, including the recent discovery of mass graves in Kashmir and remarked on the improvement in Karachi’s security situation. He also criticised Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, saying that he used the Saarc conference to ask Pakistan to take action against Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). “Our prime minister should have responded to these issues then and there, but he just listened,” said Hasan.

“JuD and LeT are internal issues for Pakistan. India has homegrown terrorism itself. It does not need to ‘import’ it from Pakistan.”

He also blamed India for instigating violence in Pakistan by using Afghanistan as a base. Munawwar Hasan also commented on President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent meeting with a US Congressional delegation, saying that the presidency needed to clarify what commitment he made about an operation in North Waziristan against the Haqqani network.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th,  2011.