[DAWN] One of the Jamaat-e-Islami...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
leaders wasn’t far wrong earlier this month when he compared the party’s loosening grip on its stronghold of Dir districts to the fall of Granada, the last battle of Spanish Reconquista leading to the expulsion of Moors from Spain in 1492.
For the JI, the ’grim prophecy’ came true rather quickly as the party was literally wiped out from its strongholds in Upper and Lower Dir.
On July 25, the party lost all three National Assembly seats to the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf
...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
and managed to win only one of the total eight provincial assembly seats of the two districts.
The magnitude of defeat could be judged from the fact that the party’s chief, Senator Sirajul Haq
...current head of the Pak Jamaat-e-Islami. Siraj was born in 1962 and entered politics shortly after that..., a candidate for a NA seat from home constituency, lost to the PTI’s little-known candidate with a huge margin of over 17,000 votes.
In 2013, the party had won both NA seats from Upper and Lower Dir and six provincial assembly seats.
Post elections, it became part of the province’s PTI-led ruling coalition and remained so for five years having a fair share of development funds to use primarily on both districts.