Political uncertainty: Siraj hopeful of resolving crisis within 48 hours

JI chief urges NA secretariat not to receive PTI resignations

FAISALABAD:

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq on Friday pledged to accelerate efforts to find a solution to the ongoing political crisis through arbitration within the next 48 hours and advised the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan to show some flexibility in the larger interest of the public.

Talking to media persons after addressing a public gathering at Dhobi Ghat ground on Friday, he said that the country is facing a serious form of political terrorism due to which the entire democratic and political system is at stake. “Democratic forces should come forward and resolve the crisis to save the country from destruction”.



Siraj said, “We should do away all the impediments in the way of dialogue between the government, PTI and Pakistan Awami Tehreek to defuse the situation which has created chaos and heading the country towards anarchy”.

The JI chief stated, “It is high time that we should shun our differences and think for the betterment of the country before anyone takes advantage from the ongoing tug-of-war and crisis ridden situation.”

Commenting on the ongoing negotiations between the government and the protesting parties, he said, “The dialogue process was going in a positive direction, unless it was sabotaged due to the sudden reinstallation of containers which created resentment among the stakeholders.”

Siraj asked the assembly secretariat to not receive the resignations tendered by PTI members, fearing it will create further uncertainty. “Saturday and Sunday are off-days in the National Assembly secretariat. The speaker and government should ignore the resignations submitted by the PTI MNAs in the larger interest of the system”, he advised.

He said that, “Had the prime minister given a time frame for the commission of the Supreme Court judges to carry out and submit the audit report of general elections, the present sit-ins of PTI and PAT would have not reached to such an extreme point.”

All the political parties should give their inputs for formulating the election reforms with consensus so as to ensure the transparent elections in the country, the JI chief was quoted as saying.

He urged all the stakeholders to exhibit a spirit of sacrifice and asked the government should show more flexibility and accommodation to steer out the country from the present crisis.

Earlier, addressing the public gathering, the JI chief said that there have been more than three occasions when martial law was imposed in the country but no efforts were made by any army dictator for enforcement of Islamic law.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 23^rd, 2014.