Ruling elite is against rule of law: Siraj ul Haq

Lahore: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Sirajul Haq, has said that the elite holding power in the country were the biggest obstacle in the establishment of the rule of the constitution and the law.

Addressing the Lahore High Court Bar here on Wednesday, he said that the constitution of the country was a victim of oppression because those who were responsible for its protection were themselves its biggest violators. He said the foremost duty of a government was to implement the constitution but unfortunately, the people in the echelons of power trampled upon the sacred document with impunity.

He said the actually the ruling clique was responsible for all the ills in the country as they plundered the entire wealth of the country thus giving rise to the multiple problems facing the masses. “We want the rule of the constitution and the law, not the rule of the Nawabs, vaderas and capitalists”, he added.

The JI chief lauded the role of the lawyers’ community in the restoration of democracy. He said at a time when nobody dared to speak against Pervez Musharraf’s martial law and several political parties were vying for a place under the umbrella of Musharraf, the lawyers came out as a storm and shattered the myth of the dictator.

Sirajul Haq counseled the government not to wait for end to the PTI’s sit in and instead honour its commitment for setting up electoral reforms commission, the reconstitution of the Election Commission and the Judicial Commission to probe into rigging.

Sirajul Haq said that the constitution declared Islam as the state religion and guaranteed the supremacy of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah. However, the articles of the constitution on this score had not been implemented even for a single day. Similarly, he said, the constitution did not speak of immunity for any one. It was an irony, he said, that the ordinary thieves and criminals were put behind bars but the major culprits were returned to the assemblies.

He said there was no room for a law like the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance in the country as it ended individual freedom. He said that the constitution had been rendered totally helpless although its faithful implementation could have helped us gain our identity in the comity of the nations.

The JI chief said that it was only because of the constitution that Pakistan was united and warned that if any harm came to the constitution, it would be difficult to keep the country and the nation united. He said that the constitution gave the people the right to elect their representatives up to the grass root level but except for the Khyber P. the provincial governments were dilly dallying on the issue. He said he Local Bodies Minister of the Khyber P, had given an assurance for holding elections within here months.

The JI chief said that the VIP culture should come to an end as all are equal in the eyes of law. He said that the PTI-JI coalition government in the Khyber P. had eliminated the VIP culture and even a common man could reach the Governor and the Chief Minster and present his grievances to them.  He said in the Khyber P. highest budget allocation was made for education.

Earlier, the LHCB chief, Ch. Shafqat Mehmud Chauhan, in his welcome address, said that Sirajul Haq was a commoner and was steadily advancing on his mission for the supremacy of the constitution. He assured the JI chief of the full support of the lawyers community for this noble cause.