Born in Charsadda in 1962, Sirajul Haq joined the Jamaat-i-Islami’s student programme in eighth grade and rose through the party ranks to become the chief of its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chapter in 2003.

He served as the provincial finance minister after being elected from PK-95 Lower Dir in 2003, but later resigned after a US drone struck a seminary in the Bajaur tribal region in 2006.

He returned to the post in 2013 after securing yet another victory in Lower Dir. A year later, Haq was appointed as the fifth emir of the JI after Jamaat Arakeen (members with voting rights) voted out the sitting emir, Syed Munawwar Hasan, for the first time in the party’s history.

Compared to Hasan, Haq has tried to emulate the populist style of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the JI chief who kept the party at the centre of the political arena between 1987-2009.

He resigned from his seat in the provincial assembly in 2014 after becoming emir to cater to organisational and political engagements.

Haq’s net worth has frequently ranked among the smallest, with him declaring assets worth a mere Rs2.9 million in his nomination papers in 2018. Two years later, in his annual financial statement submitted to the ECP, he reported owning 12 kanals of inherited land and a business worth Rs361,000 to go with Rs600,000 in his bank account.

Performance in last six years

During the 2018 elections, Haq lost his stronghold in both Upper and Lower Dir to the PTI. Except Inayatullah Khan, all the JI candidates including Haq were defeated by PTI candidates in both the districts.

In the NA-7 constituency, Haq faced a crushing defeat at the hand of PTI’s Bashir Khan, who garnered 63,017 votes compared to the JI chief’s 46,040. The JI had disputed the results.

Despite the defeat, Haq had advocated for giving the then-PTI government a chance, in contrast to his fellows in the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), who had outrightly rejected the result of the elections.

At the time, Haq had said that the party wanted the continuation of democracy and supremacy of the parliament and, therefore, was willing to give a chance to the new government.

But by 2020, Haq had openly started expressing his displeasure at Imran Khan and accused him of being the “most incompetent prime minister”. Yet, when the no-trust motion against Imran was tabled, the JI abstained from voting.

At the same time, he had also alleged that the Pakistan Democratic Movement was corrupt, adding that his party would never be a part of the alliance. During its government, the JI emir had also urged the PDM to accept its failure and call for fresh polls to “save the country”.

In April 2023, Haq launched a “consensus offensive” and held meetings with then-prime minister Shehbaz Sharif and Imran to bring an end to the impasse between both sides on the issue of elections.

The past 12 months have been rough for the Siraj’s JI, who were unable to get their mayoral candidate (Hafiz Naeemur Rehman) elected following local government elections despite enjoying a numerical advantage on paper after securing PTI’s backing.

In the run-up to the upcoming general elections, the JI emir has called for providing equal opportunities to every political party in the polls. He has also dismissed the possibility of entering into an electoral alliance with any political party and emphasised that the JI would instead forge an alliance with the people.

Key Stances

• Haq has insisted that civil supremacy should prevail, and electoral reforms and mechanisms should be brought in for the neutralisation of the establishment

• Separately, he has said that the military establishment must stop providing backing to political parties to come to power and allow the masses to elect their representatives

• Haq has pledged to emulate the “Madina model” which according to him is in line with the vision of the father of the nation. In 2017, the JI chief also called for the Muslim world to form an “Islamic United Nations”. He also promised to introduce a Sharia-based economic system in the country if voted to power

• According to Haq, minorities in Pakistan enjoy full constitutional freedom to practice their religion in Pakistan

• Haq is an ardent supporter of the Palestinian cause and has raised his voice on multiple platforms. In October of last year, he said the two-state solution to the Palestine issue contradicts the vision of the Quaid-i-Azam and the state’s official policy

• He has criticised the US foreign policy on a number of occasions. In 2020, he said Pakistan had incurred losses of $120 billion to the economy and lost 75,000 lives being a part of the US war with Iran

Header artwork by Abdul Sattar Abbasi