What We Have Delivered

When Responsibility Came, We Chose to Serve

For us, politics has never been only about winning elections, occupying offices or issuing statements. Public responsibility has meaning only when it improves people’s lives, strengthens institutions and leaves behind something that continues to serve after a government or individual has gone.

Across different periods of Pakistan’s history, Jamaat-e-Islami has been entrusted with responsibility in Parliament, municipal government, provincial ministries and local bodies. Outside government, our workers have built and sustained institutions of education, healthcare, relief, skills development and community service.

Our record is spread across decades, but the principle behind it has remained constant: authority is an amanah, and public office must be used for service, justice and institution-building.

Giving Pakistan an Islamic Constitutional Direction

Our contribution to Pakistan did not begin with municipal projects or government ministries. It began with the question of what kind of state Pakistan should become.

Soon after independence, Jamaat-e-Islami launched the Demand for an Islamic Constitution, mobilising public opinion for a constitutional order based on the sovereignty of Allah, representative government, fundamental rights, consultation and accountability.

The adoption of the Objectives Resolution in 1949 was an important milestone in this struggle. Two years later, leading scholars from different schools of thought agreed upon the historic 22 Constitutional Points, demonstrating that an Islamic constitutional framework could be built through consensus rather than sectarian division.

Our parliamentary struggle continued through the following decades. In the making of the 1973 Constitution, Professor Abdul Ghafoor Ahmad represented Jamaat-e-Islami in the negotiations that helped build a broad national consensus around parliamentary democracy, federalism, fundamental rights and the Islamic character of the state.

Constitutions are not monuments. They shape the limits of power, protect rights and determine how a country is governed. For us, that has always been part of delivery.

A City Government That Stood for Its Rights - Karachi Under Abdul Sattar Afghani

When Abdul Sattar Afghani was elected Mayor of Karachi in 1979 and again in 1983, Jamaat-e-Islami was given one of its earliest major opportunities to run Pakistan’s largest city.

His administration expanded municipal development across Karachi while strengthening the financial and institutional capacity of the city government.

During his tenure, K-I was completed and K-II was initiated, while water from Hub Dam was brought into Karachi’s supply system. The Karachi Water and Sewerage Board was established, giving the city a more organised institutional framework for managing water and sewerage services.

Roads were constructed and improved. Encroachments were removed. Parks, playgrounds and public spaces were developed across different districts. Projects associated with the period included Taleemi Bagh, the Islamic Centre and improvements to Safari Park.

The financial position of the municipal government improved dramatically, increasing approximately tenfold during his tenure and giving Karachi greater capacity to undertake development.

But Afghani’s most enduring contribution may have been his struggle for local-government autonomy. He challenged the provincial government over Karachi’s rightful share in taxes and municipal revenues because an elected city government could not be expected to serve millions of citizens while remaining financially dependent on provincial authorities.

That principle still defines our position today:

A city cannot be accountable to its people if its authority and resources remain somewhere else.

Afghani was also remembered for a quality increasingly rare in politics: simplicity. He remained accessible, lived modestly and treated public office as responsibility rather than social elevation.

When Karachi Began Thinking Like a Megacity - The Naimatullah Khan Era

The election of Naimatullah Khan as City Nazim in 2001 brought Jamaat-e-Islami back into executive responsibility in Karachi under very different circumstances.

The city had expanded enormously. Roads, transport, water, sewerage and public services had failed to keep pace with population growth. Karachi required more than routine municipal administration. It needed large-scale planning.

During Naimatullah Khan’s tenure, the city government’s budget grew from around Rs5 billion to approximately Rs44 billion, greatly expanding its capacity for development.

The Karachi City Council approved major infrastructure plans that included 18 flyovers, six underpasses, two signal-free corridors and a major expansion of the city’s water system. Roads were rebuilt, sewerage and water lines replaced, and infrastructure projects were undertaken across the city.

The K-III water project was initiated during this period, adding another major source of water to Karachi once completed.

The administration also established the Karachi Institute of Heart Diseases, bringing specialised cardiac treatment into the local-government system.

One of the strengths of the Naimatullah Khan model was the effort to bring Karachi’s fragmented institutions together. Federal bodies, provincial authorities, utilities and other stakeholders were engaged in the city’s development instead of allowing institutional boundaries to become an excuse for inaction.

Public transport was expanded through modern buses, while barren and neglected land was converted into family parks and recreational spaces.

Karachi’s coastline also received an innovative intervention. Young men from coastal villages, already familiar with the sea and skilled in swimming, were engaged as lifeguards to protect visitors at the city’s beaches.

What made the period memorable was not only infrastructure. It was a style of administration built around honesty, accessibility, long working hours and an understanding of Karachi as one city.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Building Institutions Beyond the Capital

Our experience in provincial government also gave Jamaat-e-Islami opportunities to demonstrate what public responsibility could mean in healthcare, local government and finance.

As provincial health minister, Inayatullah Khan worked to strengthen healthcare beyond Peshawar. Twenty-two district headquarters hospitals were upgraded towards Category A and B standards, helping improve access to better medical care at district level.

Medical education also expanded. Khyber Girls Medical College and Bannu Medical College were established, while existing medical institutions in Dera Ismail Khan and Saidu Sharif received attention and improvement.

The foundation of what later became the Peshawar Institute of Cardiology was also laid during this period, while Lady Reading Hospital underwent renovation and expansion.

The intention was clear: quality healthcare and medical education should not remain concentrated in a few institutions or cities.

Taking Power Closer to the People

When Inayatullah Khan later headed the Local Government Department, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa moved towards one of the most extensive local-government arrangements in the country.

Local-government elections were held in 2015, and substantial development resources were transferred towards elected local institutions.

The department introduced e-tendering, reducing discretionary contracting and bringing greater transparency into development work.

Municipal and divisional uplift programmes were undertaken across the province. In Peshawar, major investment went into internal roads, beautification, green belts, traffic infrastructure and other urban improvements.

Our approach to local government has remained consistent whether in Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or elsewhere:

Decisions about local communities should be made as close to those communities as possible.

Public Finance With Restraint and Social Purpose

As Finance Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Siraj-ul-Haq emphasised fiscal discipline, reduction of unnecessary government expenditure and greater investment in areas that directly affected ordinary people.

His tenure also pushed the province towards Islamic banking and interest-free financial alternatives, including the gradual expansion of Islamic banking through the Bank of Khyber.

Interest-free financing programmes were developed for unemployed youth, small businesses and families seeking productive livelihoods.

Education and healthcare received significant attention, while government expenditure and administrative overheads were subjected to greater restraint.

Our position was never that a budget should merely balance its columns.

A good budget must answer a larger question:

Where are public resources going, and whose lives are becoming better because of them?

Karachi’s Nine Towns

Bringing Government Back to the Neighbourhood

The 2023 local-government elections once again placed Jamaat-e-Islami in direct municipal responsibility across nine towns of Karachi. However, the mayoral election and the elections for town chairmen in at least four towns were rigged to deny Jamaat-e-Islami’s representatives victory.

These administrations inherited a system in which many important powers and revenues remain concentrated at provincial level. Yet within those limitations, our town governments have focused on what citizens encounter every day: roads, streets, schools, dispensaries, parks, sports facilities, youth centres and public spaces.

In Gulberg Town, the Taleem Card was introduced to help students meet the cost of books, uniforms and stationery.

In Liaquatabad, neglected land was transformed into a modern sports complex, giving local youth access to organised recreational facilities.

Across Gulshan-e-Iqbal, New Karachi, Jinnah Town, Model Colony and other JI-led towns, roads and streets have been reconstructed, parks restored, youth facilities developed and urban spaces improved.

Municipal schools have also received renewed attention. In a province where families often avoid government-run schools, improvements in facilities and administration have helped restore public confidence in some JI-managed institutions.

The work includes model neighbourhoods, better roads and streets, public schools, healthcare facilities, parks, sports infrastructure and community spaces.

Local government should not be something citizens hear about only during an election.

They should be able to see it outside their homes.

Service Beyond Government

Khidmat Is Not Conditional on Power

One of our important distinctions is that public service has never stopped when Jamaat-e-Islami was outside government.

Over decades, this culture of organised service developed into permanent welfare institutions, most prominently Alkhidmat Foundation, which emerged from Jamaat’s tradition of khidmat and today operates through its own professional and administrative structure.

Its work extends across healthcare, disaster response, clean water, orphan care, education, community welfare, skills development and livelihood support.

Hospitals, ambulances, medical centres and diagnostic facilities provide healthcare throughout the year.

During floods, earthquakes and humanitarian emergencies, volunteers move quickly into affected areas with rescue support, food, shelter, healthcare and rehabilitation.

Clean-water projects serve communities where safe drinking water remains difficult to access.

Orphan-care programmes combine sponsorship with education, mentoring, family support and residential care through Aghosh Homes.

Community-service programmes respond to everyday hardship through food assistance, mobility support, winter relief and other forms of local welfare.

This work is not built around one annual campaign. It is an institutional system designed to remain present before, during and after a crisis.

From Welfare to Empowerment

We believe service should not end with immediate relief.

A family may need food today, but it also needs the ability to stand independently tomorrow.

That is why our wider service model increasingly combines welfare with education, skills and economic opportunity.

Through Bano Qabil, young people and other participants receive technology, digital and professional skills that can lead towards employment, freelancing and entrepreneurship.

Through scholarships, schools and educational support, children and young people receive opportunities that might otherwise remain beyond their reach.

Through interest-free microfinance and livelihood support, small entrepreneurs and families are given the means to build sustainable sources of income without being pushed towards interest-based debt.

The direction is deliberate:

from assistance to capability, and from capability to independence.

A Culture of Volunteerism

Behind much of this work are ordinary people who choose to serve.

Students, professionals, doctors, engineers, teachers, workers and community volunteers contribute their time and abilities to relief operations, health activities, educational programmes and social initiatives.

We do not see volunteerism merely as free labour.

It is a means of creating a society in which people stop asking only what the state will do for them and begin asking what responsibility they themselves can carry.

Organised volunteerism turns goodwill into lasting capacity.

Serving Beyond Pakistan

Our sense of responsibility also extends beyond national borders when people face exceptional humanitarian suffering.

In Gaza, relief work has included food, medicines, shelter, hygiene support and educational assistance delivered through available humanitarian channels and partnerships. Thousands of tonnes have been transported to affected region since 2023.

Similar humanitarian concern has guided work for communities affected by crises elsewhere.

For us, there is an important distinction:

Political solidarity raises a voice against injustice.
Humanitarian service ensures that suffering people are not left alone.

What Connects This Record

The constitutional struggle of the 1950s, Karachi’s municipal governments, provincial ministries in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, today’s nine towns and the vast field of welfare work may appear very different.

For us, they belong to the same idea.

• Power Is an Amanah

Authority is not a privilege to be enjoyed. It is a responsibility for which leadership must remain answerable.

• Build Institutions

We prefer institutions that continue working after an individual leaves office: hospitals, schools, local governments, water systems, transparent procedures and community organisations.

• Keep Power Close to People

A strong Pakistan cannot be built by concentrating every decision in provincial and federal capitals.

• Serve Whether in Government or Opposition

Khidmat cannot depend on electoral success.

• Help People Stand on Their Own

The strongest welfare model is one that eventually reduces the need for welfare.

The Work Continues

We do not claim that every problem was solved whenever Jamaat-e-Islami received responsibility. Nor do we believe past performance removes the need to do better in the future.

Our record makes a simpler claim. Where we have been given responsibility, we have tried to leave behind stronger institutions, better services, cleaner administration and greater opportunity for ordinary people.

That remains the standard we set for ourselves.

Politics must ultimately be measured not by how much power is gained, but by what is delivered when that power is entrusted.