PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami chief Sirajul Haq on Wednesday said Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf shouldn’t punish the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly for the election rigging in Punjab.

He also opposed the attempts to oust an elected prime minister by agitation.

Talking to reporters here at the JI provincial headquarters before chairing a meeting of the party’s parliamentary committee in the provincial assembly, Siraj said his party was opposed to the dissolution of the provincial assembly and the resignations of lawmakers.

Also read: Jamaat not to allow derailment of democracy: Siraj

“We can advise our friends not to resign from the assembly. If some lawmakers resign on their own sweet will, then we can’t stop them,” he said.

Says bids to oust PM by agitation should be discouraged

The JI chief warned abrogation of the 1973 Constitution could plunge the country in the worst crisis.

He said there were constitutional ways to oust the prime minister and that if the fate of the prime minister was to be decided on the streets, nobody would be able to hold the position in future.

Siraj said attempts to oust an elected head of the government through agitation should be discouraged.

He said the powers to resolve conflict had shifted from Islamabad (federal government) to Rawalpindi (the army’s headquarters) due to the inefficiency of politicians.

The JI chief said ultra constitutional action would harm democracy in the country.

He said he was hopeful the current political deadlock would end soon.

A news release issued by the JI after the meeting said the party would not accept any unconstitutional and undemocratic action in the country.

It said the National Assembly and four provincial assemblies should complete constitutional term in office, while the provincial assembly should not be dissolved.

According to it, the JI is part of the coalition government in the province and that the opposition has the right to table no confidence motion against the chief minister.

On Tuesday, the opposition parties had submitted a notice for the resolution for a vote of no confidence against provincial Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to the assembly’s secretariat.

The release said Sirajul Haq apprised members of the parliamentary party of his efforts to resolve issues between the PTI and the federal government.

It said Siraj had handed over all demands of PTI chairman Imran Khan in writing to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif except his resignation.

The participants unanimously said they would support the supremacy of the Constitution, parliament and democracy.

APP adds: Siraj told reporters that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been facing uncertain situation for over a decade due to unrest, terrorism, unemployment, high inflation and displacement of the people in North Waziristan Agency and therefore, dissolution of the assembly at the current critical juncture was not at all in interest of the people. He said JI would put its weight behind parliament, Constitution and democracy.

The JI chief said if the Constitution was done away with, it would be difficult to keep intact the people from different schools of thought and nationalities living in the country.

“If the Constitution is abrogated, then it will be very difficult to make the people accept other legal documents in the country,” he said.

Siraj said the economy had collapsed due to sit-ins in Islamabad, while the stock exchange was on the verge of collapse.

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2014