PM not given right briefing on Karachi issues: JI city chief

After Pak Sarzameen Party’s Mustafa Kamal, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has expressed apprehensions that Prime Minister Imran Khan was not given the “right briefing” on the issues and problems of the city due to which he was unable to address them in his maiden visit here.

Speaking to a press conference at JI’s local headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq on Tuesday, Rehman said that though his party supports all those decisions of the government that redress the problems faced by the public, but it understands that the PM has not addressed the issues of the city yet.

“We were thinking that it was the right time to put the reins on K-Electric but Imran Khan did not touch upon the issue,” the JI leader said. He added that the working of the privately-owned power utility was among the serious issues. “Khan talks about bringing back the looted money. He, however, did not say anything on the billions that KE looted from the public.”

Mentioning the incident involving a fallen high-tension wire, which caused an eight-year-old boy to lose both his arms, he said that the Sindh government was paying for the treatment instead of the power utility which allegedly is responsible for all this. He said Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah was also silent on the issue.

Rehman said that the water scarcity and the need of a mass transit system were among the top most issues of Karachi and the PM did not discuss them during his visit. He, however, lauded the announcement to award nationalities to Bengalis and Afghans living in the country and criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party which opposes this decision.

“This is the first time that Pakistan is making a legislation about nationality which is a plausible step and it will help resolve the identity issues of people who migrated to the country during 1971 crisis,” he said, adding that Nadra was asking these people to bring documents of that time which is nearly impossible because of the circumstances in which they had to flee their homes.