KARACHI – Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haq resigned on Monday over his party’s poor performance in the Feb 8 general elections.
Haq, who has been serving as the JI emir since 2014, admitted that he was stepping down over failure in election as the reiligio-politico party failed to grab a single seat in the National Assembly.
As per provisional results, the independent candidates backed by the PTI are leading the race with 101 seats followed PML-N with 75 seats and PPP with 54 seats.
Earlier in the day, JI Karachi emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman relinquished the provincial assembly seat, PS-129, in Karachi. He stated that he did not win the seat; instead, it was secured by the candidate backed by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
During a press conference in Karachi, Naeem asserted that the PTI-supported candidate emerged victorious, and he does not wish to occupy a seat through what he termed as “charity.”
Although he acknowledged his defeat, Naeem pledged to continue the legal and political battle to reclaim all seats lost by his party due to alleged rigging. He emphasized that manipulating the mandate through deceitful means does not change the will of the people.
In the general elections held on February 8, Naeem initially won the Sindh Assembly seat PS-129 from Karachi Central. However, he clarified that it was the PTI-supported candidate who triumphed in PS-129, not him.
Declining to take the oath as a Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) on the contested seat, Naeem advocated for the rightful winner to assume the position.
