Ex-senator Mushtaq Ahmad confirms quitting Jamaat-e-Islami

ISLAMABAD: Former senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan has confirmed that he has resigned from Jamaat-e-Islami.

Speaking on Geo News programme “Capital Talk”, Mushtaq Ahmad confirmed that he had stepped down from the party.

When host and senior journalist Hamid Mir asked about his current political status, Mushtaq Ahmad replied that he had resigned from Jamaat-e-Islami.

He said he had sent his resignation on September 19 while travelling on the Global Samoud Flotilla, adding that he had not yet received any response from the party.

Explaining the reasons behind his resignation, he said that every organisation has its own boundaries, and sometimes one needs to work independently.

“I want to freely struggle for human rights, democracy, free media, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, Palestine, and the constitutional rights of the federating units,” he said.

He said that he wished to meet Ali Wazir, Mahrang Baloch and Manzoor Pashteen, and wanted to see a fair trial for Imran Khan.

Mushtaq Ahmad said that the night he resigned, he cried the same way he did when his mother passed away.

A large number of people criticised Jamaat-e-Islami for failing to support Mushtaq Ahmad Khan. Critics questioned the party’s silence while he was en route to Palestine, calling it “mysterious” and “disappointing.”

Several termed the JI a “hypocritical party,” accusing it of merely paying lip service to the Palestinian cause while remaining inactive when real support was needed.

Former senator Mushtaq Ahmad earlier arrived in Pakistan following his release from Israeli detention.

Mushtaq Ahmad, who was freed from Israeli custody, arrived in Pakistan on a private airline flight from Bahrain and was warmly received at the Islamabad airport amid a display of Palestinian flags.

A grand reception was held for the former senator at the Islamabad airport, where the airport was awash with Palestinian flags.

He had led the Pakistani delegation in the “Global Steadfastness Flotilla,” a 45-vessel convoy that set out last month from Spain carrying aid for Gaza in an effort to break the Israeli blockade.

The Global Steadfastness Flotilla included human rights activists and politicians as well as prominent environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg. However, when the convoy approached Gaza, Israeli forces intercepted it, detained all those on board and later deported them.