JI can make alliance with PTI:Munawar Hassan

Lahore: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Syed Munawar Hassan, has
said that the country needed an upright man and not one like Gilani or Raja- as care taker Prime Minister who commanded the confidence of the people and could ensure truly impartial elections.

He also suggested framing a law making it mandatory for all eligible citizens to cast vote in order to bring about a change through vote. He was talking to the media after inaugurating an exhibition of fire fighting and rescue equipment at Expos centre on Thursday.
He said that talks were going on with the PML(N) and the PTI on seat adjustment.

PTI chief, Imran Khan had contacted the JI on this score and a decision would be taken after public meeting on March 23.
Syed Munawar Hasan said that a mini revolution could be brought about through vote provided the people considered it a constitutional obligation to cast vote, and not a mere fun. He pointed out that in certain countries, abstaining from voting was a crime under the law.
He said that the people coming to power through vote had to decide the fate of the country. As such, the electorate was responsible for the government policies and decisions. He said if the country today faced the energy crisis and the problems of price spiral and unemployment, the blame to some extent, also lay with the masses who voted to power such elements who ran after personal gains and build palaces for themselves at the cost of the general public and drove the country into the slavery of the IMF and the World Bank.

He therefore, urged the electorate to fully participate in the next elections and out rightly reject the feudal lords, Vaderas, and capitalist who had been dominating the assemblies in the past.

The JI Ameer said, it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to enforce the Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution to obstruct the election of the plunderers. Similarly, he said, it was also the Election Commission’s duty to prevent rigging in the elections in Sindh, especially Karachi, by preventing forced occupation of polling stations and allowing the electorate to exercise their right of vote in a free atmosphere, and warned that if these steps were not taken, the situation was bound to go out of control.

The JI Ameer underscored the need for such exhibitions for rapid industrial development in the country. He also went round the stalls of different companied at the site and inspected the free fighting and rescue equipment. He admired the quality of the exhibits.