Jamaat-E-Islami Pakistan faces a humiliating defeat in the General Elections 2024. Jaamat could barely grab 4 seats in provincial assemblies and failed in the National Assembly. A series of political tactics are being used by the party to lessen the pain.
Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman gave away his PS-129 Sindh provincial assembly seat in frustration with his defeat in NA-250 and NA-246. Hafiz Naeem is not happy with the Election Commission since the Karachi Local Elections and Karachi Mayoral Elections 2023. It seems like he is missing his party’s old guardians, COAS and Maulana Fazal Ur Rehman.
Jamaat-e-Islamia Pakistan is too late to pretend to be honest. Had they taken such steps decades back, today Pakistan would have been completely different. Maulana Maududi (Founder) spent a year calling the Peoples Party and General Yahya Khan to impose Governor rule in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) after the 1970 elections.
WELL… I think we better need to first read about Jamaat’s this century politics and post-1971 war situation. Here we go.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
It was the first-ever election by the Jamaat-e-Islami since its separation from the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal Alliance. JIP is contesting elections under the leadership of Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman (Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F)) who has been heading MMA with other religious political parties since 2002. The Alliance had a series of splits throughout the years but overall proceeded with election campaigns in collaboration for 22 years.
Jamat-e-Islami rose to power during General Parvez Musharaf’s dictatorship. MMA gained 59 seats in the National Assembly and formed a government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for the first time in history. Akram Khan Durrani served as the Chief Minister of KP till the 2008 elections. The 2008 Elections (without military guardianship) resulted in a political downfall for the MMA. MMA gained 7 seats in the National Assembly and formed a Coalition Government with the Pakistan Peoples Party in the center.
Also Read: PPP Supports PML-N Candidate for Prime Minister: Bilawal Bhutto Confirms the Alliance
The political decline in the 2008 elections fueled tensions in the political partnership and Jamaat-e-Islami ended up being Alone in the 2013 elections. Jamaat took years to realise their mistake and Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal came back for a political alliance in 2017. Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam, Jamaat-e-Islami, Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan, Jamiat Ahle Hadith, Islami Tehreek, and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan joined hands together for the 2018 election campaign. Tahreek-e-Jafaria was later renamed to Shia Ulema Council after it was banned for funding terrorism, Iranzation, and extremist sectarianism in the region.
Post-1971 Genocide:
Pakistan People’s Party, Awami Muslim League, and Jamaat-e-Islami had lost their political strength after the 1971 Genocide and War. PPP and Jamaat-Islami tried to silence the public mandate and suppress the matter with power. Jamaat even went on to utilize Razakars, Al Badr, and Al-Shams groups to fuel anti-Pakistan sentiments in East Pakistan. The Rise of Maududism in East Pakistan provoked the Bangali nationals to join Mukti Bahini.
Those political tactics later resulted in the War of Independence in Pakistan. Pakistan ended up losing half of its part because of a political downfall. Jamaat-e-Islami tried to cover the loss by playing the religion card but it was too late.
Despite spending 50 years in politics, Jamaat is still not in a position to win a single seat in the national assembly. Even previous political achievements are the result of Alliances which Jamaat-e-Islami will be looking for once again.
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