JI fully support the women’s participation in the electoral process: Siraj ul Haq states to BBC

Lahore: Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Siraj ul Haq, has said that the JI fully supported the women’s participation in the electoral process and nobody could deny them this right.

In an interview with the BBC radio, he however said that under the law of the land, just as no voter could be stopped from exercising his/her right of vote, similarly, no one could be forced to cast his/her vote either.

Siraj ul Haq expressed great surprise over the Election Commission’s decision declaring the by election from PK-95 Dir as null and void and said the JI would challenge this decision before the High Court. He said that none of the candidates from the PK 95 had lodged any complaint in this respect.

He said that the JI had a strong women wing and the JI woman MNA Aisha Syed and MPA Rashida Zafar had campaigned in the constituency to mobilize the women voters to cast vote.  He said that thousands of women had attended the Jamaat Ijtema in Lahore in November last year.

Meanwhile, Khyber P. Chief Minister Pervez khattak, on Tuesday, contacted the JI chief by phone and discussed with him the latest situation in detail. The JI chief told the Chief Minister that the electoral process should be transparent and all complaints of irregularities should be redressed.

Pervez Khattak told the JI chief that he had directed the provincial Chief Secretary to collect entire  record concerning rigging and irregularities in the elections, and the same would be placed before the Election Commission and the public. He further said that the provincial government would not object to re-polling in constituencies/ polling stations where there was solid evidence of rigging.