ISLAMABAD - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Amir Senator Sirajul Haq announced Lahore to Islamabad march on September 12 to promote the cause of “blanket and ruthless accountability” without which the country could not progress and prosper.

Addressing a press conference here Monday, the JI amir said that without holding the powerful to account for their deeds the country could not be put on the road to progress and prosperity, as corruption had virtually crippled all the state institutions.

He also announced resistance in case an attempt was made to revoke articles 62 and 63 from the constitution because there must be some check on those making way into the Parliament of the country.

Haq regretted that due to blatant corruption the institutions were virtually crippled and the law could not get hold of those powerful.

Flanked by JI Central Secretary-General Liaquat Baloch and Vice-President Mian Aslam, the JI amir also demanded making Volume 10 of the JIT report public.

He also demanded making Justice (retired) Baqir Najfi’s report on Model Town carnage public wherein some 14 innocent people were killed.

Sirajul Haq also proposed formation of a supra body (Commission for Truth) to examine and make public the reports of the investigations held in the past.

To a question, he also demanded that the Dawn Leaks report should also be made public as people of Pakistan should know the truth behind all that happened in that case.

The JI amir admitted that they were not satisfied with the accountability setup in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and proposed that an independent and powerful accountability mechanism should be put in place to conduct across the board accountability of all.

He proposed that the head of accountability apparatus should be appointed by the chief justice of Pakistan in consultation with the chief justices of high courts of all the four provinces to make it free from all sorts of pressures.

Similarly, the JI amir proposed granting financial autonomy to these institutions as well.

He regretted that the former prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, was deliberately avoiding the investigation into the NAB inquiries against him, which was actually a test case for the judiciary.

The JI amir said that even if Nawaz Sharif would leave the country he could not avoid the accountability into his alleged corruption and would ultimately have to meet his fate.

Recalling his party’s struggle for accountability, he said that they had tried their utmost to get the matter of Panama leaks resolved through the Parliament but when the ruling PML-N had even refused to show flexibility on framing of terms of reference for any probe body they were left with no choice but to take the matter to the apex court, where the JI had filed the petition on August 24, 2016.

The JI amir said that it was all due to their efforts and struggle that now there was mass awakening on the issue of corruption and the people in the street were talking about corruption and had realised that it was the root cause of the problems being faced by the country.

He expressed his resolve that with the support of the people of Pakistan they would ultimately weed out the menace of corruption from society.