JI launches three-day referendum for finding solutions to Karachi issues

As a part of its ongoing ‘Karachi Rights Movement’, the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Karachi chapter launched on Friday a three-day public referendum on the issues facing the city.

A large number of residents cast their votes in the referendum. The JI has set up scores of polling stations outside mosques across the city, where people were seen collecting slips and casting their votes on Friday.

The three-day referendum campaign is part of the Karachi Rights Movement’ that the JI launched on September 8 to pressure the government into accepting its demand for an authoritative local government system for Karachi.

On September 27, the party organised a rally on Shara-e-Quaideen, and marked Yaum-e-Yakjehti Karachi (Karachi Solidarity Day) on October 14 across the country.

For overseeing the referendum process, the JI has named Anwer Mansoor Khan, retired justice and former attorney, as chairman of the Public Referendum Commission, former CPLC chairman Nazim F Haji as commissioner, Qamar Usman, former president the Pakistan Business Forum, as secretary and prominent personalities Jawed Bilwani, Naeem Qureshi, Munir A Malik, Dr Saad Niaz, Sohail Afzal, Imtiaz Khan Faran, Anwar Shaor, Dr Tauseef Ahmad Khan, Jamaluddin and Maqsood Yousufi as members.

JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman and other leaders cast their votes at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the Karachi office of the party. The party has also arranged an online facility to give opinion while the results will be announced before the media on Monday.

“In the first phase of the referendum, around seven million ballot papers were sent to all JI districts, including women wings, for holding referendums in their respective areas,” said Rehman. He said that not a single political party, opposition and government put Karachi on its priority list in its manifesto, and that showed their gravity of the situation as far as the city issues were concerned.

“Irrespective of political affiliation, everyone can take part in the referendum campaign on Karachi rights,” he said. Rehman said the Karachi relief package announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan had now become a point-scoring game between the political parties and the government,

He said the JI demands included setting up an empowered city government, giving Karachi the status of a mega city, bringing impartiality to the distribution of resources, initiating a transparent population census, introducing an annual quota system for government jobs, holding fair and independent local bodies polls after constituting 700 union committees, and taking over control of the K-Electric and initiating a forensic audit of power entity forthwith. The citizens of Karachi were deprived of health, education, civic and recreational facilities, and for the resolution of all issues, public pressure would be used, he said.