JI serves legal notice on PPP over ‘substandard development work’

The Jamaat-e-Islami’s Karachi chapter has served a legal notice on the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) government in Sindh over alleged massive corruption, misappropriation and substandard development under way in the city.

JI Karachi chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman disclosed this on Monday during a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the headquarters of the party in the city. Rehman said that through the legal notice, the JI has demanded that in view of the constitution’s Article 19-A (‘Right to information’), the provincial government publicise the details of all the development works that have taken place or have been planned since 2019.

Referring to the Article, he said the people have the right to know what they want. He added that the JI has asked the government to reveal all the details, including the cost, the starting and culmination dates, the contractors as well as the other departments involved.

He also said that the legal notice mentions that a large number of recently completed patchworks and other works have already been damaged or destroyed without any apparent reason, indicating that massive corruption and misappropriation is involved in the substandard works.

Rehman said the JI will act according to the aspirations of the people of Karachi and will sue the relevant departments if the provincial government fails to reveal the information sought from it.

He said that the tone of the Sindh government’s development budget during the past decade and a half clocked in at Rs5 trillion, but on the ground the PPP’s administration did nothing for the development and progress of the province.

He added that the government of the PPP, in collaboration with its friendly opposition party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, has ruined Karachi during the past 14 years. He pointed out that the two parties are still on the same page against Karachi and its people, and that both parties have also joined hands against holding local government elections in the city.

The JI leader said the LG polls have been postponed thrice in the city. He said that the PPP’s design to further delay the elections will not work any more. He demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) fulfil its constitutional obligation and immediately announce the final date for the polls in the light of the court’s recent ruling. He also demanded that the ECP dislodge the illegal political administrator in the city ahead of the LG elections.

On the issue of the Islamia College, he said Saeed Qureshi was the founder of the institute. He added that the black sheep in his family forged some documents for monetary benefits, while the rest of his family members want to maintain the status of the college according to Qureshi’s aspirations.

He lamented that the Sindh government did not defend the college in court against the fake documents. He announced the JI’s support for the college and its students against the conspiracy to replace the institute with a commercial project.

He also lambasted the provincial government of the PPP for depriving the residents of Mujahid Colony of their homes without first providing them with alternative accomodation and compensation.