Religious parties warn against increasing power tariff

Religious parties have strongly condemned a likely 15 percent increase in electricity tariff due to an understanding believed to have been agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sunni Tehreek (ST), Majlis-e-Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM), Jafria Alliance, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam (JUI) and other religious parties voiced their concerns in this regard while talking to The News on Thursday.

JI Karachi emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, ST chief Mohammed Sarwat Ejaz Qadri and MWM chief Allama Syed Siraj said this was a cruelty towards poor people as this would be a second electricity tariff hike in a month.

They said that people were already dealing with increased prices of essential items and this hike would cause an increase in the price of each and every commodity used by the common man. The leaders demanded from the rulers not to surrender before the IMF just to get a loan as it would affect the masses.

Naeem-ur-Rehman and Qadri said the recent increases in petrol, gas and power tariffs would render millions of people jobless. They said it was not change but sheer destruction. Pakistan and the IMF had agreed on four prior actions, including notifying hiking electricity tariff by around 15 percent.

After implementing all prior actions agreed with the IMF staff, it will pave the way for consideration of Pakistan’s request for approval of $6 billion bailout package by the Fund’s Executive Board, probably by end June or early July this year.

The MWM leader said that the people of Karachi were already facing an acute water shortage and they feared that if power tariff increased the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board might ask the government to increase water tariff.