The Central Executive Council of the Jama‘at-e-Islami reviewed the situation as prevailed after the presidential action of November 5, 1996 and the results of the Elections of February 3, 1997. The Council expressed its satisfaction that the nation got rid of the oppressive and cruel PPP government and rejected the pattern of governance and mode of politics in vogue since many decades. The way the present elections got held in an atmosphere of popular dissatisfaction and which were devoid of enthusiasm, was, on the one hand a clear and open indication that people were fed up with and have gone indifferent to the system, and on the other hand expressed their real feelings and sentiments manifest in the crushing defeat of People’s Party. The result is also indicative of the fact that the big mandate given to Muslim League was only conditional. It is to provide the new Parliament and the new ruling party, a chance to go for total and comprehensive accountability and to initiate practical action on the national agenda that was the basic cause of dismissal of the previous government and holding of fresh elections.

At this important juncture of our history, the Jama‘at-e-Islami Pakistan, setting aside the old bitterness, would like to impress upon the new rulers that they should concentrate on the future needs of the nation and its considerations. The Jama‘at open-heartedly seeks the rulers to initiate meaningful tasks, yet also feels it necessary to point out that the nation today is fully awake and observant and would not be satisfied with window-dressing, lip-service and empty words. It is time for action and the rulers will be judged on the output criterion. Whereas a strong government was necessary for the future of the country, equally essential is the presence of an effective opposition and free press to keep the nation on the right track.

The Jama‘at does not believe in the common present day political notion of "opposition for the sake of opposition." We are guided by the Qur’anic principle and injunction: "Cooperate in good and pious deeds and do not lend hand in sinful actions and excesses." God willing, this will always be the basis of our extending helping hands, or withdrawing cooperation.

In the light of the above principle stand, the Executive Council declares in clear words that the real task before the new federal and provincial governments is to immediately start the accountability process and change the mode of governance and priorities that resulted in total collapse of the law and order system in the country, loss of credibility in the world community, crash of the economic order and a wave of widespread injustice, encroachment and corruption. All the sacred values of Islam were trampled and rights of the people mercilessly denied. The nation will keep an open eye to see and assess what the holders of the new mandate will do. A few important areas of concern and indicators of the government’s policies and performance will be as follows:

1) All elected representatives should publicly announce their total assets. The returns submitted to the Election Commission should be immediately published and scrutinised how far these were true. The President, the Prime Minister, all the Federal and Provincial ministers, Advisors and public servants should freeze their financial business and business contacts and also publicly announce their assets, as long as they hold the public jobs.

2) The rulers of the past — public representatives as well as employees — should be made to face accountability without a bit of favour or mercy, yet none to be tortured on political grounds. This should be accomplished through a free and fully authoritative system working vigilantly and transparently. The accountability process and the law should be made so fool-proof as not to let the looters to escape through loopholes or delaying tactics. They should not be able to render the process and justice machinery ineffective. The interim government miserably failed on this account and the first test of the new government is to effectively revive and mobilize that process. The accountability must entail those who are currently in government and also those who have been rejected by the people, but they are yet to be tried and made to pay for their misconduct, corruption and default.

3) For the future rulers, the discretionary powers should be withdrawn forthwith. All official business, appointments, transfers and use of funds etc. should be regulated and conducted under laid down procedures, merit and due right. Rules should not be relaxed at will. The State Bank should decide the bank default cases strictly on merit and duly inform every month the Parliament and the public through press, about the recoveries made or restructuring allowed. Similarly, regular periodic reports should be published regarding tax collection and tariff realisation so that a precedence of good and open governance is established.

4) Judiciary be effectively separate from the administration and given full due authority. Cases pending before various courts at all levels, including the Federal Shariah Court and the Shariat Bench of the Supreme Court, should be decided at the earliest possible. To this effect creation of new positions, if required and filling them on merit, be considered so that people get justice in time.

5) The administration and police service be reformed. The first task is to protect them from political pressures. Every ruler in the past has been using these agencies as their political organs to crush the people so much that the situation as prevails has become unbearable. On the one hand, the administration and its arms deserve constitutional protection and increase in the remuneration of the their personnel, and on the other hand be made strictly law-abiding and free of political interference. It will be useful if public rights, performance quality and justice within a given period, are clearly defined and spelt. People and the common consumer should know their rights regarding every sector and any violation by the functionaries should be declared punishable.

6) Implementation of the Islamic articles of the constitution and particularly the Objective Resolution should be taken up on priority. Decisions of the Federal Shariah Court and the recommendations of the Council of Islamic Ideology should be implemented without further delay, and the promises made concerning Islamic Shariah and regard for principles should be fulfilled. The joint session of the Parliament had, during the Ramazan of 1991, made a solemn pledge to make Qur’an and Sunnah the supreme law of the country; with the two third majority the rulers now enjoying, there should not be any hindrance to honour that promise. Similarly, there is urgent need to restructure our education and media sectors, particularly the cultural policy of the electronic media, according to the tenants of Islam.

7) The country is to be liberated from the clutches of the World Bank, the IMF and other lending agencies. Better we stop the practice of begging for loans and re-establish our whole economy on self-reliance and venture partnership. Today our economic liberty stands mortgaged in the hands of international money-lenders. Without this liberty we can neither build our economy nor regain our political authority. To realise this objective it is imperative to get rid of the interest on capital in all forms and the foremost action by the government in this respect will be to withdraw its appeal from the Supreme Court that it filed against the decision of the Shariah Court about five years back.

8) The economy of the country is facing tremendous crisis due to continuously rising inflation, unchecked rise in the prices of basic services and the mass industrial stagnation, all because of defective and poorly conceived economic policies. Due to unbearable cost of living, unemployment and lack of basic human needs, the common person is in a state of total deprivation. There is need to redirect the flow of wealth, opportunities and employment in favour of the poorer sections of the society. Similar changes are warranted in the education and health sectors.

9) To encourage private entrepreneurship is necessary. However, the public sector activities, particularly in the areas of oil, gas, electricity generation, telecommunication and banking system warrant a careful and balanced privatisation policy, so that it helps efficiency and productivity on the one hand, yet safeguards the strategic needs of the country and rights of the labour and general consumer on the other. The task is therefore, to be accomplished with careful planning, guided speed and total transparency.

10) The country is also facing great difficulties in the area of foreign policy and international relations. At a highly sensitive time, when the Kashmir issue has, due to the resistance movement, put India under great pressure, it is not receiving due attention. The irony is that establishment of trade relations and cultural links with India are being openly discussed, which amounts to sabotaging and killing the Kashmir liberation movement. The war that was won at a very high cost in Afghanistan, is being lost. That friendly neighbour is in a state of total disorder and turmoil and even our closest friends within are not happy with us. Relations are getting colder with Iran and our traditional love and enthusiasm towards China is no more clearly visible. Contrary to this, reliance on the USA is continuously increasing, a country that has been busy adding to our political and economic difficulties. The situation demands that Kashmir is accorded central priority and foreign policy at large re-shaped to suit our ideology and to fulfil the real needs of the country.

The Executive Council of the Jama‘at believes that the real national agenda, covers necessarily the ten points enumerated above and provide the criteria for performance evaluation of the new government. The Jama‘at declares its resolve and also makes appeal to the public that as they had whole-heartedly participated since June 1996, in the struggle to save Pakistan from the hands of cruel rulers and restore the rights of the people, they must continue to strive to establish Islamic order in the country, which was the real goal of Pakistan and see that the rights of the suppressed masses are fully protected. This is their religious and democratic duty. Let every body help and cooperate with the government, in all lawful and right actions, and resist and oppose timely, against malpractices and bad policies so that mistakes of the past are not repeated, and the Pakistani nation marches towards its cherished goal and realises the objectives as embodied in its foundation and its very genesis.