JI to stage ‘Karachi Ko Izzat Do’ march on June 30

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will hold a march on June 30 in Karachi under the banner, ‘Karachi Ko Izzat Do [Give respect to Karachi]’, to press the authorities to resolve the issues of the people of the city.

This was announced by JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman as he addressed a news conference on Friday at Idara Noor-e-Haq. He said JI head Senator Sirajul Haq would lead and address the march that would start in Sohrab Goth and move up until the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam.

Rehman said Karachi had been forsaken by the authorities but the JI would not leave the residents of the city alone and it would stand shoulder to shoulder with them. He said the K-IV bulk water supply project, which had been initiated by JI’s former Karachi nazim Naimatullah Khan, had already been much delayed and it was a matter of life and death for the residents of Karachi. He lamented that the project’s cost was estimated at Rs25.5 billion in 2007 but now it stood at Rs600 billion.

He said the project was delayed and its cost increased because of the Sindh government’s negligence and had the project completed on time, the people of Karachi would not be facing an acute shortage of water.

Lashing out at K-Electric (KE), the JI city chief said the power utility had been fleecing the people of Karachi. He criticised the government for providing subsidy to the KE despite the fact that the power utility could not end unannounced load-shedding in the city. The KE rejects these charges.

Rehman also criticised the federal government for allocating an insignificant amount for Karachi in the federal budget. He said the prime minister had announced Rs162 billion development package for Karachi during his recent visit to the city but only Rs45.6 billion was earmarked for Karachi in the federal budget, which was a U-turn.

He said the Karachi mayor always decried lack of funds at his disposal, yet, he had enough money to approve development projects worth Rs26 billion. As much as 70 per cent of the population of Karachi was in the grip of basic civic problems, he said.

Commenting on the transport issues of the city, the JI Karachi chief said the Sindh government should be ashamed of its failure to provide public transport buses to the city during the last 10 years. He said the government kept on promising to operationalise the Karachi Circular Railway but such promises never materialised.

Karachi has become one of the largest garbage dens of the world and no sewerage system could be seen in the city, he said, adding that billions of rupees were being spent on the cleaning of water drains but they were always found choked.

Rehman claimed that the JI was the last hope for the residents of Karachi as the PPP, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had failed to provide any relief to the people.