Dr Raheeq Abbasi, Secretary General of Minhaj-ul-Quran International, has said that national progress hinged on the stability and strength of institutions but the present-day Pakistan presented a deplorable scene whereby personalities had grown bigger and stronger than the institutions. This state of affairs, he said, has resulted into disappoint and chaos and the dream of progress and prosperity has become a pipedream.

Dr Abbasi said that the people were in search of basic necessities of life, while the ruling elite was content with the status quo, pretending as if nothing was wrong in the country. There were severe shortage of basic necessities with prices of gasoline products skyrocketing with every passing day.

Dr Raheeq Abbasi expressed these views while talking to a delegation of MQI Islamabad led by President Ibrar Raza Advocate, which called on him in his office in Lahore today.

Dr Abbasi said that those parties which were raising the slogan of change were actually affirming the status quo by showing their willingness to take part in the elections under the incumbent electoral system. This political practice, he said, would further push the country into abyss. He categorically stated that unless the electoral system was changed, no real change would happen in the country.

Dr Abbasi said that the essence and beauty of democracy lay in people’s authority to vote their representatives into power, which was not the case as the real power lay somewhere else and the people were merely tools to give a façade to otherwise highly questionable process. He asked the people to understand the problem and strive hard to change the electoral system.