ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan’s largest Islamic political movement, is holding its long-awaited annual public gathering in Lahore this month — the first such event in 11 years — which is expected to draw millions of supporters from across the country and abroad.
This month, from November 21 to 23, the heart of Lahore will transform into a spiritual city within a city, as Greater Iqbal Park, under the shadow of Minar-e-Pakistan, becomes home to one of the Muslim world’s largest peaceful gatherings.
Party chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said the last Annual General Gathering, held in 2014, had left a profound impact on the nation, but this year’s convention is being organised “with far greater purpose, preparation, and vision.”
Addressing party members, Hafiz Naeem emphasized that the objective was not merely to revive an old tradition but to transform the event into a nationwide movement reaching “streets, towns, and villages” across Pakistan. “People must know that Jamaat-e-Islami is ready to show its real strength,” he declared.
He described the slogan “Change the System” as the party’s central mission — inspired by Maulana Maududi’s belief that Pakistan’s challenges cannot be resolved through partial reforms but through a complete transformation of the political, economic, and social order. “The entire system has to change,” Naeem said.
Every few years, tens of thousands of men, women, and families from across Pakistan — and even from overseas — pack their bags, board buses, trains, and vans, and head toward one destination: the grand Jamaat-e-Islami convention.
For three days, participants will live in a vast tent village meticulously organized by the JI administration — a self-sustained settlement featuring prayer areas, food kitchens, medical camps, clean water systems, and digital media centers.
Remarkably, all arrangements — including transport, food, and lodging — are managed and funded by the participants themselves. Pilgrims and activists from every corner of Pakistan — from the mountains of Khyber and plains of Punjab to the deserts of Sindh and Balochistan — will gather in Lahore, united by a shared spirit of faith, reform, and solidarity.
The event, seen as a major revival moment for Jamaat-e-Islami, aims to project the party’s ideological strength, organizational discipline, and renewed resolve to position itself as a credible force for political and social change in Pakistan.
