The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Saturday staged a sit-in outside the Sindh Governor House in Karachi, demanding withdrawal of the government’s agreements with independent power producers (IPPs), revocation of the K-Electric’s (KE) licence, revision of the tax rates and policies that would reduce the inflation.
Thousands of the JI’s activists and supporters from across the city arrived at the Masjid-e-Khizra near the Sindh High Court from where they marched to the Governor House and staged the sit-in.
The demonstrators carried placards and chanted slogans against the government, IPPs and those that had contributed to the rise of inflation.
Speaking on the occasion, Karachi JI Emir Munem Zafar said the sit-in protest was a continuation and expression of solidarity with the ongoing JI’s protest in Rawalpindi.
He added that both the sit-ins of Karachi and Rawalpindi would continue till their demands were met.
Talking about the core demands of the JI, Zafar said the party wanted withdrawal of the slab system from the power bills, and cancellation of unjust agreements with the IPPs.
He explained that the JI also demanded rationalisation of the tax regime, and withdrawal of unjust taxes, particularly those imposed upon the salaried class and traders in the last budget.
Talking about the issue of the government’s agreements with the IPPs, he said the current government and its predecessors had misled the nation about the matter.
He alleged that around four IPPs had been paid billions despite the fact that they generated zero unit of electricity. Similarly, he said, several other IPPs had been paid billions of rupees in the name of capacity charges, whereas, they generated electricity only up to around 10 per cent of their respective capacities.
Addressed the Sindh governor, Zafar said the governor was the representative of the Centre in a province. He said the people of Karachi had been suffering from multiple crises and in this situation, the governor should either get their issues resolved or go packing.
The JI leader also demanded a forensic audit of the KE and the IPPs' accounts.
He highlighted that the ruling parties had been hands in gloves with the KE to plunder the resources of the nation.
He said that earlier, the JI launched the Karachi Rights Movement and now it was spearheading the Haq Do Awam ko movement. He added that the rights struggle by the JI would continue till all the rights were not granted to the people.
He said 2.6 million Pakistani children were out of schools and the common people were striving hard to make their ends meet but could not.