PESHAWAR (The News Report) : Following his election as the central head of the Jamaat-e-Islami on Sunday, Sirajul Haq is expected to quit his office as senior minister in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.
Holding the important portfolio of finance in the provincial cabinet, Sirajul Haq would have to relinquish this office as minister before taking over as the party chief from April 20. This would lead to another reshuffle in the provincial cabinet. However, no formal announcement has yet been made as to when he would resign from the cabinet.
This would be the second time that Sirajul Haq would be sacrificing his cabinet job for the party. He had quit as minister in 2005 when the party leadership asked him to choose between the cabinet berth and the office of the JI provincial president. He had opted for the latter.
Known for his honesty and simplicity, Sirajul Haq has made it to the top-most position of the JI, which has the reputation of democratic culture and discipline in its ranks. “I have no expression right now. Let’s see how things go. May Allah enable me to shoulder this huge responsibility,” Sirajul Haq remarked when reached on the phone.
The election of Sirajul Haq is unprecedented in the 73-year history of the JI. The incumbent head of the party Syed Munawwar Hassan and general secretary Liaqat Baloch were also in the run for the office and it has never happened in the history of the party that the incumbent head remains in the contest and fails to get elected.
Sirajul Haq’s election as the JI chief would have a profound impact on the party’s politics. Unlike his predecessor, he is considered flexible and tolerant. He is media-friendly and has more experience of parliamentary politics. He likes to have political alliances with other parties, especially the religious ones.
Though JI has a strong shura system and the major decisions are taken in it, the ameer has great say in the decision-making process.Hailing from the remote Miskini Darra area in Samarbagh tehsil of Dir Lower district, a stronghold of the JI, Sirajul Haq was born on December 5, 1962. He got his early education from various public sector schools in Dir Lower. He did his graduation from Government College Timergara, Dir Lower.
He did M Ed from University of Punjab. He was an active member of Islami Jamiat-i-Talaba (IJT) in his student life. He served as central chief of IJT for three consecutive terms – 1988-91.
On completion of his studies he joined JI as an active member and was made its provincial assistant general secretary in 1993. Soon he was elevated as general secretary and served in that capacity till 2002 when he was made the provincial ameer of the party. He served as provincial head till 2009 for three consecutive terms before being made the central deputy chief of the party.
Sirajul Haq was elected as member Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly in 2002 and became senior minister in the provincial cabinet with the additional portfolios of finance, environment and forests. In 2005, he quit as provincial minister. In 2008, he could not contest the elections owing to the JI’s boycott of the polls. In 2013 again he was elected as member of the provincial assembly from PK-95 Dir Lower and given the portfolio of finance in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led coalition government.
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