LAHORE: Expressing their frustration and depression over the defeating result of election, Jahangir Tareen, the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) patron-in-chief, and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Sirajul Haq today stepped down from the top slots.
Tareen, an influential politician who was once a close aide of incarcerated former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan, has faced humiliation in Thursday’s general elections as his newly-formed party grabbed only two National Assembly (NA) and one provincial assembly seats.
Citing poor electoral performance, the IPP founder announced quitting politics and his party position in a post on X.
“I would like to thank everyone who supported me in this election and want to offer my congratulations to my opponents. I have immense respect for the will of the people of Pakistan. Therefore, I have decided to resign from my position as Chairman IPP and step away from politics altogether,” the senior politician wrote on his official X handle.
“My gratitude to all the members of IPP. I wish them the absolute best. By the Grace of Allah, I will continue to serve my country to the best of my ability in a private capacity. May the next few years see Pakistan prosper IA. Pakistan Zindabad,” he added.
In another development, the chief of the politico-religious party, Jamaat-e-Islamo, Sirajul Haq tendered his resignation citing “failures to get the targeted electoral results.”
“I don’t deserve to remain as the Head of the party as I could not achieve the given task”, he said.
Qaiser Sharif, JI’s Central Secretary Information of, confirmed the development regarding the party chief’s resignation which he tendered after taking responsibility for disappointing electoral performance in the general polls.
Sharif said that JI’s Secretary General Ameerul Azeem summoned an emergency session of the central shura on February 17 at the party’s headquarters — Mansoora Lahore. “The central shura’s session will commence at 10am and mull over the situation [post-resignation of the JI emir].”
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-Parliamentarians (PTI-P) chief Pervez Khattak also announced taking a break from politics after poll humiliation.
Meanwhile, in Karachi, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) provincial chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman Monday said that he would be giving up his seat in the Sindh Assembly, PS-129, from Karachi that he won in the February 8 general elections.
He claimed that the candidate supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) had won the seat, not him. Speaking at a news conference in Karachi, Naeem asserted that he did not want a “charity” seat and that the opponent, who was supported by the PTI, had won the seat.
He said that while he was withdrawing from the seat, he would keep up the legal and political fight to win back every seat his party had lost as a result of “vote-rigging”. “You cannot change the people’s mind through fake mandate,” he said.
In the February 8 general elections, he won the Sindh Assembly seat PS-129 from Karachi Central. However, he said it was the PTI-supported candidate who won on PS-129, not him. “I do not want a seat in charity. It should be given to the one who has the right to it,” he said.
Naeem said the PTI candidate received more votes, so he was accepting PTI’s victory and mandate. He added that he had enough dignity within himself to accept that the independent candidate had won on PS-129. The JI leader also announced that he would not take oath as an MPA on the seat.
As per Form 45, the PTI-affiliated candidate won PS-129, hence he should take oath on that seat, he said. He said according to the ECP’s Form 47, he bagged 26,000 votes, whereas, he bagged 30,464 votes as per Form 45s.
Vowing to launch the battle to get back their “winning seats”, the JI Karachi chief said even on his winning seat his votes were shown as 26,000, when he had bagged 30,000.
Demanding election results on the basis of Form 45, Naeem said they wanted all those seats where his party had won.
The JI leader claimed that his decision to return the seat was a “slap in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)’s face”. He also rebuked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) for celebrating the “fake mandate”.
The JI leader said a large number of their polling agents were not provided Form 45 and the worst kind of rigging was conducted through Form 47. The returning officers’ offices were sealed from all sides so that they could not approach him, he said.