KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan has warned against postponement of May 11 elections saying that its consequences for the country were beyond imagination.

While launching the party manifesto “Elections 2013” at a hotel on Monday afternoon, Mr Hasan said with elections drawing near, uncertainty about holding the elections on time was increasing despite the assurances given by the chief justice and the chief election commissioner that elections would be held on time and free, fair and transparent manner.

He said whatever was happening in Karachi was not a secret, the situation in the metropolis was serious and was sitting on a mound of gunpowder and a tragedy might happen any time.

The JI chief said the statement of the interior minister in support of politicians and that the army would not be deployed on all polling stations had contributed to the uncertainty prevailing at present. Although the central government had taken its notice, certain mistakes could not be rectified, he added.

He said the interim government in the centre and the province should be neutral. The interim government ought to give assurance to voters in Karachi that they would return alive after casting their vote from the polling stations as some elements were trying to create atmosphere so that voters should not go to exercise their right and their party could carry out its job.

In reply to another question, the JI chief said that the US desires to see such a government installed in Pakistan which can deliver to the US when it withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014 as India failed to deliver despite its keen desire to play a role in Afghanistan. Now US think tanks were working on different options whether the elected government, government of technocrats, or interim government could deliver them, he said.

He dispelled the impression of any separatist movement going on in Balochistan. He said there could be someone who had raised the slogan or had indulged in writing such slogans on walls but not a movement as Baloch National Party chief Sardar Akhtar Mengal despite not getting due felicitation from the government after returning from eight-year-long self exile he made categorical statement that after getting elected to the parliament he would certainly take oath as per the constitution of Pakistan.

The JI chief said Mr Mengal drew the attention of people towards increasing number of missing persons, kidnapping for ransom and targeted killings in Balochistan and said: “It is our behavior that has pushed the people of Balochistan to the wall.”

He said the need of the hour was not packages but to inculcate sense of participation among the people of Balochistan, which is not only the biggest province of the country but also rich in natural resources.

In reply to another question, he said that the US was about to leave Afghanistan after a 12-year stay there and had held talks with the Taliban in five different countries, including France, Germany and Qatar, for a peaceful exit from the landlocked country.

He said Pakistan under the US pressure was not prepared to hold talks with Pakistani Taliban. He said since Pakistan had joined the war against terror, the quantum of terrorism incidents had multiplied. He reiterated his party stand that the war on terrorism was neither our war nor would be but of the America whose eyes were on the resources of the Central Asia and the containment of China.

In reply to a question, the JI chief said there was need for legislation to apply Article 62 and 63 of the constitution to test the merit and eligibility of candidates for the parliament.

Earlier, he highlighted salient points of 27-point JI manifesto, “Elections 2013”. He said the change could not usher in the country without change in voting behaviour.

He said the root of all our ills was corruption and if corruption in ruling elite was checked the country could be put on road to progress. There was no dearth of resources but people made to suffer due to want of social justice and control of mafia over its resources, he added.

Mr Hasan said not a single person out of more than 1,000 elected representatives to the senate, parliament and legislative assemblies over the past six decades had been convicted for corruption, which was the proof that only JI could create a corruption-free society.

Some of the salient points of the JI manifesto are: to liberate the country from the US slavery and restore its independence and total sovereignty, to eliminate class-based system, all are equal before the law, provision of basic necessities will be responsibility of the state, the Kashmir issue will be the main pillar of the foreign policy, resolutions of all issues with India including Kashmir problem through meaningful dialogues, root out terrorism from the country, elimination of feudalism, interest-free agriculture loans, 30 per cent reduction in rates of power and gas, increase in salaries in proportionate to price hike, economical power generation from coal, wind and solar resources, promotion to industrial homes, homeless people to be provided with land free of cost and interest-free loans to build their houses, prompt and inexpensive justice, elimination of corruption and recovery of the plundered wealth of the nation, 100 per cent literacy, free medical treatment, full protection to women, 30 per cent reduction in non-productive expenditures, social security to elders, widows, unemployed people, arrangement of residence for workers, free medical treatment and education to their children and pension after retirement, increase in pension in proportionate to the price hike, 50 per cent rebate in fairs to elder citizens in all mode of transportation, promote nuclear technology to make country’s defence impregnable, freedom of press, IT infrastructure on modern lines, local government system, immediate measures for the recovery of missing persons in Balochistan and addressing their sense of deprivation by bringing them on par with people of other parts of the country in every respect, supremacy of Quran and Sunnah and reforms in election system and legislation for party elections.

Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman earlier briefly introduced the manifesto.