PESHAWAR: The chief of Pakistan’s largest religious party Jamaat-i-Islami Munawwar Hassan has declined to contest the party election to retain his position. The election process in the JI has formally started and would be completed by April this year.
The meeting of the central Shura of the party, which concluded in Lahore yesterday named the election committee headed by Abdul Hafeez Niazi, a senior member of the party.
“Balloting was also held in the Shura for choosing three names to contest for the top office of the JI,” sources privy to the meeting said. The three names, however, could not be made public as some members of the body remained absent from the three-day meeting that started on January 3.
They would be asked for their consent through postal ballot, which would take another 10-15 days before finalising the names, the sources said.
Munawwar Hassan, according to sources, asked the JI shura to keep him out of the election process as he didn’t want to serve for another term. The Shura did not insist that he should review his decision.
The favourite candidates after Munawwar Hassan are the JI deputy chief Sirajul Haq, general secretary Liaqat Baloch, president Sindh province Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa head Prof Mohammad Ibraheem Khan and Hafiz Mohammad Idrees.
The first three are, however, considered the frontrunners, the sources said. If the Shura members voted Munawwar Hassan to be a candidate for the office of JI chief despite his refusal, he would definitely retain the job for another term as per the party traditions.
The election process of the central Ameer, or head, normally takes four months to complete. It would start from the first week of January and end by April?s first week with the oath-taking of the new Ameer in accordance with the party constitution. Munawwar Hassan was elected as the central president of JI in April 2009.
INTERNEWS
