Siraj-ul-Haq

Siraj ul Haq (born 5 September 1962) (Urdu: سراج الحق‎) is a Pakistani Islamist politician who was elected as the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, a religious, Islamic democratic party in Pakistan with objective to establish Islamic laws in Pakistan.^[1] He also served as the senior minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, serving in the Pervez Khattak administration.^[2] He is the only senator and member of Provincial assembly who has no bank account so as to ignore interest.^[3] He is often praised for his simple lifestyle and honesty. A judge of Supreme court Justice Asif Saeed Khosa retracted his remarks he gave about Article 62 and 63 and praising Siraj-ul-Haq's honesty ,

“We have to lay down the parameters. If the situation continues then no would be able to escape from Articles 62 & 63,” he said and in a lighter vein remarked that might be only Sirajul Haq would survive.^[4]

Early years

Siraj ul Haq was born in Samarbagh village of the Lower Dir District, into a Pushtoon family, he got his early education from the local high school of the region and studied Political Science in the University of Peshawar. During the University political period, he was the Chief of Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba from 1988 to 1991.^[5] He has been elected two times as MPA from PK-95 constituency.

Political career

He was elected to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in the 2002 election from the platform of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and was made finance minister in the provincial cabinet under the leadership of Akram Khan Durrani. However, he allegedly resigned in protest against the deadly US drone strike on a Madrassa in Bajaur Agency which resulted in the deaths of 86 children. Though the then Ameer Jamat e Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmad claimed that it was the party decision to vacate one of the two offices i.e. Ministry and Ameer Jamat e Islami Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, then N.W.F.P. His party boycotted the 2008 election. In 2013, he contested on Jamaat-e-Islami's ticket and was elected to the assembly.^[6]

He remained the Deputy Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami until 30 March 2014 when he was elected as the Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan.^[7] He remains immensely popular in his constituency and known for his modesty among friends and foes alike.^[8]

He later resigned from his ministry (Ministry of Finance) in June 2014 right after budget because according to party rules, one man cannot hold two offices at a time.^[9] At that time, he was Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami and Senior Minister in KPK Assembly.

He gained immense popularity when Imran Khan And Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri announced the Long March against Prime Minister Muhammad Mian Nawaz Sharif. He acted as a neutral figure. He convinced the Government and Imran Khan for negotiations and due to his efforts the government became stable.^[10] He said that the Jamaat-e-Islami will not let democracy derail. Political Differences aside, we will save democracy. For his utmost efforts, he later received an award from the Government of Pakistan on 14 August 2014 by President Mamnoon Hussain.

In 2015, he fought the election for senate. He won the election and is a senator in Parliament of Pakistan now. He is considered to be a senior member of Parliament of Pakistan. ^[11]

External Links

Siraj-ul-Haq on Facebook

Siraj-ul-Haq on Twitter

References