The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has announced that it will launch an agitation drive against the federal and provincial governments neglecting Karachi in their respective budgets. This was decided at a high level meeting of the party chaired by Karachi JI Emir Monem Zafar Khan on Friday.
The meeting condemned the coalition government in the Centre and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government in Sindh for not allocating enough funds for the development of the megalopolis.
Khan said that unfortunately Karachi was taken for granted and just as an opportunity to mint money. He highlighted that the city contributed to exports of the country by 54 per cent, provided 67 per cent revenue for the national exchequer and 95 per cent budget for the Sindh province, but it was badly deprived of its due share in resources.
He lamented that the ruling parties had nothing to do with Karachi and its residents. He said that despite the city's significant contributions to the economy, its residents continued to face multiple crises.
The JI leader remarked that a mafia in the name of K-Electric had been imposed on the city and the electricity tariff for the city was Rs40 per unit compared to Rs35 for the rest of the country. Several areas of Karachi were facing the worst kind of loadshedding and overcharging, he stated.
Talking about the never-ending water crises in the city, he said there was no water to supply in the lines but the tanker mafia never faced any such shortage. He said the JI would not left the people of Karachi at the mercy of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, PPP, Muttahida Qaumi Movement and other ruling parties.