ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Monday that Pakistan, even after 78 years of independence, was still struggling for its survival under a system dominated by the civil and military bureaucracy.

Addressing members of the Islamabad Bar Association here, he said the country had drifted far away from the vision on which it was founded, and it continued to be controlled by an elite and privileged class that resisted reform and accountability. “Those in power for 78 years must go now,” he added.

The JI chief said that the country was created purely on the basis of “La ilaha illallah”, and founder of the nation, Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had envisioned a governance model rooted in Islamic justice, equality and public welfare.

“Pakistan was built with great hopes, yet today, the system serves only a handful of powerful groups while the common man continues to suffer,” he said.

The JI leader said that after Quaid-i-Azam’s death, the nation was deliberately left confused about its ideological direction. Mr Rehman praised the country’s bar associations for upholding democracy by regularly holding elections.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2025