KARACHI: Linking the recent unrest in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) with the “fraudulent” Feb 8 general elections, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Tuesday warned that the situation could trigger unrest in other parts of the country where resentment against the “government with fake mandate” was growing already.

Demanding a suo motu notice from the chief justice of Pakistan (CJP) against the “fabricated outcome” of the elections through Form-47s, JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that all the injustices that had actually “stolen” the true mandate of the people of Pakistan must be undone.

He vowed to support the people of Azad Kashmir, but made it clear that any “misdeeds by some miscreants” could not be supported in any circumstances.

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“The situation in Azad Kashmir is just the tip of the iceberg. The resentment and anger among the people across Pakistan is like a volcano that can erupt anytime,” he told a press conference here at the party’s Idara Noor-i-Haq headquarters. “The recent elections have just added fuel to the fire. The anger has further grown and such situation can get out of control anywhere in the country.”

Urges CJP to take notice of election rigging through Form-47s

He claimed that the CJP “knows it very well” that Form-45 was a “sacred constitutional” document and he should take notice of what happened in the general elections.

He said that all the institutions should retreat to their constitutional positions. “That is the only way forward for the country,” he said.

He made it clear that the “advanced engineering” of the general elections was the worst kind of rigging and it was lethal to the democratic process. Talking about the JI’s strategy towards the prevailing situation, he said that a mass movement was the only best available option to rectify the state of affairs.

He added that the JI was contemplating a mass mobilisation movement to address the issue.

“The Jamaat will unite the nation to rise as a collective voice for rights and any attempt to suppress the voice will not be tolerated,” said Hafiz Naeem. “We have also asked our Karachi leadership to take the issue of flawed census to the judiciary as it provides basis for all kind of systematic injustice to Karachi and its citizens.”

He said that a Punjab-like crisis was looming large for Sindh farmers as the poorer segment of the agriculture sector was being crushed across the country.

He announced a march on May 16 in Punjab in protest over the government’s policies. “We are also taking out a big march on May 19 in Peshawar to express solidarity with Palestinians,” he added.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2024