JI holds multiple protests against power, water crises

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) held dozens of protest demonstrations in different locations of Karachi on Sunday against excessive electricity bills, load-shedding, water shortage and what it termed the anti-people budget 2024-25.

The JI also announced that it would hold a sit-in on Sharea Faisal on June 26, Wednesday, against the ongoing water and electricity crises. Participants of the protests held placards and banners against unannounced load-shedding, shortage of water in different parts of the city and rampant street crime.

Addressing one of the protests, Karachi JI emir Munem Zafar Khan said that on one hand, the people of Karachi had been deprived of clean drinking water and on the other hand, the K-Electric had resorted to load-shedding of up to 18 hours in several areas amidst the harsh weather.

He remarked that white-collar criminals had been ruling over the megacity under the shelter of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). He said the KE was exploiting Karachiites in two ways as the citizens were subjected to both load-shedding and overcharging. He held the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, PPP and MQM responsible for the 20-year fresh lease to the KE.

Talking about the water crisis in Karachi, he said that the megacity needed 1,300 million gallons of water per day whereas the supply was limited to 650 million gallons per day. A significant amount of the supplied water was wasted due to outdated water lines, and the rest of water was also not distributed in a uniform manner, he said.