Senator Siraj ul Haq talk to newly elected chief of the JI

Lahore : Ameer, Jamaat e Islami, Pakistan, Senator Siraj ul Haq, has said that true democracy would flourish in the country only when democratic institutions became more powerful than the individuals.

Talking to a delegation headed by the newly elected chief of the JI for central Punjab, Amirul Azeem, at Mansoora, he said that the political parties would have to practice democracy in their own ranks to promote democratic culture.

Siraj ul Haq pointed out that prior to the recent elections, the JI had proposed that the elections of all political parties should be held before the elections under the supervision of the Election Commission. However, this proposal was not considered seriously.

Siraj ul Haq said that political parties having undemocratic and dictatorial mindset had done the greatest harm to democracy in the country and the parties being run by dynasties, revolving around personalities and having ethnic and regional outlook, were the greatest hurdle in the way of democracy.

He said the families controlling the affairs of some parties were not allowing democratic culture to get roots in the country and common political worker was not allowed to rise to higher offices. The son or daughter of the party head would head the party after the father to be followed by the grand son or grand-daughter.

He said that the political parties representing any region, sect or ethnicity, participating in the electoral process would have to promote national outlook in their ranks.

Siraj ul Haq said the JI had the distinction of having a strong election system and all its office bearers were elected through secret ballot. He said that the elections of the provincial and district heads of the JI all over the country had been completed during the current month and the new office bearers had assumed their responsibilities. However, he said, there had been no incident of leg pulling to secure any party office.