JI to hold anti-KE demos at 400 venues across city from today

Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Wednesday that Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, federal minister Asad Umer, and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) lawmakers from Karachi should resign because they have failed to end frequent and prolonged power load-shedding and alleged over-billing.

Addressing a news conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI’s secretariat in the city, Rehman announced that from Thursday (today) onwards, his party will hold demonstrations at 400 different locations to protest against K-Electric and the government.

He demanded that the government immediately withdraw the proposed raise of Rs3 in the power tariff, initiate KE’s forensic audit, cancel the company’s licence and nationalise it.

He said his party will continue to monitor the load-shedding and alleged over-billing situation. “KE failed to ensure uninterrupted power supply to the city even after the assurances of the governor and the sit-in of the PTI and MQM-P.”

The JI city chief said KE has been given a free hand to rob its consumers, adding that being a private entity, the company is being provided a subsidy of Rs90 billion on an annual basis, which is simply “a licence to plunder the public exchequer”.

He said that additional natural gas of 100 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to 290 mmcfd has been supplied to KE, but the company continues to subject the city to long hours of load-shedding. “Moreover, to conceal its failure, KE claims that a technical fault occurred at the Bin Qasim power plant that generates 130 megawatts. The entire situation is absurd!”

He pointed out that the Pakistan State Oil has also been complaining that KE never informed them about its fuel requirements in time, as it is mandatory to provide the information on stock position 30 days in advance.

Rehman said that during the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority’s recent public hearing, KE CEO Moonis Alvi had admitted they had oil storage capacity of 120,000 tonnes, sufficient to run all furnace plants for a month.

“KE is not storing fuel in a bid to save funds of billions of rupees, and instead subjecting its consumers to long hours of load-shedding,” he lamented. He claimed that Abraaj Group chief Arif Naqvi provided the PTI with funds for the party’s campaign for the general elections.

JI city deputy chief Dr Osama Razi, District South chief MPA Syed Abdul Rasheed and Public Aid Committee Vice-President Imran Shahid also addressed the news conference. JI Karachi Secretary Abdul Wahab, Information Secretary Zahid Askari and Public Aid Committee’s Najeeb Ayubi were also present on the occasion.