JI stages sit-in against power outages

LAHORE: Jamaat Islami staged countrywide demonstrations against unscheduled loadshedding on Friday in front of the offices of power distribution companies, demanding the rulers to immediately end it.

Protest rallies in front of the offices of the power distribution companies in federal capital, provincial capitals and other cities and towns were held on the appeal of JI ameer Senator Sirajul Haq and participated by thousands of charged and slogan-chanting workers.

In Lahore, a sit in was staged in front of Lesco head office led by JI Secretary General Liaqat Baloch, who warned that if the rulers failed any further in providing the masses with the basic necessity of life, the masses would take to the streets to oust them. He said the rulers had already failed to provide other basic necessities like health, education, security, jobs and shelter to the masses. He recalled the PML-N leadership had made tall claims  of overcoming the energy crisis within six months of taking over during their election campaign, but the party utterly failed to resolve the issue even after being in power for four years.

He said the helpless consumers had to foot a huge electricity bill every month even though they did not get electricity for half a day. He alleged the consumers in Pakistan were paying the highest electricity tariff in the world only because of the wrong priorities and favouritism of the rulers while electricity theft was going on under their nose. 

Meanwhile, delivering Friday sermon at Mansoorah Masjid, JI naib ameer Hafiz Muhammad Idrees said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was holding secret meetings with his friends from India at a time when India was openly and mercilessly massacring Kashmiri Muslims.

Hafiz Idrees said if rulers considered India their friend even after the revelations of Kulboshan and Ehsanullah Ehsan, they were not only grossly mistaken but were actually playing into the hands of enemies. He said Hindu rulers of India had always been biased against Muslims.