Monday, April 1, 2013

Pakistan: Tehrik-e Islami and Jama'at-e Imrani seat adjustment

http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.com/
According to reports, the PTI has entered into a seat adjustment with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). This is not a good strategy because in my opinion, it will help only the JI and may well cost the PTI potential voters. That said, the one Lahore seat, NA 126, that Imran Khan will contest on, was won in 2002 by the JI’s Liaquat Baloch, so the PTI may have one benefit from the seat adjustment. Overall, however, the image of the party will suffer because it chose to enter into a seat adjustment with a conservative religious party. The PTI claims to implement the ideology of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah but the Jamaat-e-Islami was founded by Maulana Maudoodi. The latter was a vocal opponent of the concept of Pakistan and of Jinnah as well. And the JI, to the best of my knowledge, has never tried to dispel this impression. Similarly, the PTI has said that it will look out for the interests of minorities if it is voted to power. However, how is that going to happen given that it has chosen to enter into a seat adjustment with a party that led a campaign against Ahmadis as early as 1953. The seat adjustment between the two parties is clearly not compatible with the manifesto and history of both parties.

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