LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Senator Sirajul Haq said on Friday that a lobby in the government was active to abolish articles from the Constitution relating to Khatm-i-Nabuwwat.

Speaking to journalists after a meeting with PTI vice chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Mansoora, he called upon the government to expose the lobby, dissociate itself from these elements and punish them so that nobody could dare make such an attempt again.

He said the issue of Khatm-i-Nabuwwat was part of faith for Pakistanis and any attempt to alter the relevant laws could never be successful.

Says party will raise the issue in Senate with ‘full force’

Referring to contradictions in the government statements, he said the government first denied any change in wording of the oath, but later the word “declaration” was replaced with the “affidavit”. He said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also demanded punishment for the people behind the attempt.

“The JI with the support of like-minded parties will raise this issue in the Senate with full force,” he said.

In order to ensure next elections free from doubts, the Jamaat chief said that a transparent electoral system was inevitable.

Mr Qureshi said the statement of the US government (about the stability of the Shahid Khaqan Abbasi-led government), after Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif’s meeting, was a matter of deep concern for the nation.

He said the incompetence of the government had been exposed on the Khatm-i-Nabuwwat issue and there was great unrest among people.

The PTI leader said the entire electoral amendment bill had been rendered controversial because of clause 203 allowing a disqualified person to become the head of a political party. He said the masses were now sick of the friendly opposition and the deal between the government and the Pakistan Peoples Party. He said it was essential that opposition parties elect a new leader of the opposition so that they could play the role of a true opposition.

He said institutions were far more important than individuals and that people were aware of the elements attacking institutions.

Mr Qureshi said that the armed forces were laying down their lives in the war against terrorism, but the rulers were refuting the armed forces’ narrative at the foreign level and the narrative of Pakistan’s foreign minister was the same as that of India and the US.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2017