JI holds four political parties responsible for IPPs saga

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday held four political parties of the country responsible for giving heavy tax exemptions to the Independent Power Plants (IPPs), saying the nation could not tolerate burden of these IPPs anymore.

Addressing a press conference here, the JI top leader said that the governments of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League (PMLN), Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PMLQ) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) have hands in gloves while signing agreements which were favourable to IPPs and allowing tax exemptions to them.

Naeemur Rehman said that according to documents available with JI experts, the IPPs were given Rs1200 billion to Rs1300 income tax exemptions from the year 1988 to 2017-18 and after that the record of exemptions was not available in data. “All these four parties remained friendly with IPPs and besides giving heavy tax exemptions, those were also facilitated with capacity payments in foreign currency”, he said.

Naeemur Rehman regretted that the ruling elite wanted to continue with giving waivers to IPPs in tax and sucking more blood of salaried class with increase in tax on their salaries while nation was also misguided in the name IMF. “There is no more data of IPPs available as to how much profit they earned and how much tax exemption they were given since the year 2017-2018”, he said.

He challenged the Sharif family to start process of revising agreements with IPPs from their own power plants followed by other blue-eyed, influential and local owners of plants.

He said the incumbent government would be in a position to ask Chinese power plants for revision of agreements once the process is started from ruling elite and local influential. “China are strategic partner of Pakistan also having other stakes in the country and they will never hesitate from revision of agreements”, he said, adding one of IPP which operates on ‘Bagasse’ has been getting capacity payment in head of imported coal.

Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced the launch of the second phase of the “Haq Do Awam Ko” movement, beginning on September 01, along with a nationwide membership drive. He said that the JI has initiated consultations with traders for further strikes and with transporters for a potential wheel-jam strike if the government continues to resist providing relief to the masses. Terming August 28 shutter-down strike as a big success, Naeemur Rehman said that the whole nation and traders community from Gwadar to Khyber demonstrated unprecedented unity and foiled all efforts to create division amongst them.

“It was very successful and peace strike and not even a stone was thrown or any property damaged”, he said. He claimed that amongst political parties, it was Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) which raised on problems and issued being faced by the common men. “Issues are that ruling elite should do away with their luxuries, lower electricity tariffs and revise agreements with IPPs”, the JI top leader said.

Naeemur Rehman told the government that time was getting out of its hands, warning that the movement will reach the grass root level if seven-point agreement reached with the party was not implemented. The JI leadership in an agreement reached with the government team on August 08, had given 45 days to the regime to accept its seven-point agenda of demands.

He said they were keeping all the options of peaceful protest open including further shutter-down and wheel jam strikes.