JI flays federal govt, Nepra for ‘showering blessings on KE’

A large number of Jamaat-e-Islami supporters and residents attended a protest sit-in protest outside the K-Electric head office in the Gizri area on Saturday against prolonged power outages in the city and other issues associated with the power utility.

The JI Karachi chapter has announced a series of protests over the power crisis and alleged “overbilling” by the city’s sole electricity supplier after the three-day deadline it had given ended this week. JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem Ur Rehman, while addressing the protesters, said his party had just voiced the aspirations of the people of Karachi, and all the demands presented by the JI against the KE were totally justified. “Although the federal government has expressed satisfaction over the KE's performance, almost 25 million people in Karachi are suffering due to the policies of the KE. Given the situation in the city and the past of the power utility, the people in Karachi have duly demanded of the government to launch a forensic audit of the company,” he said.

Rehman said it wasn't a secret that the KE administration failed to act on the mutually agreed accord under which the then KESC was handed over to the KE administration.

The JI leader also raised questions over the behaviour of the federal government when it came to the KE. “On the one hand, the Supreme Court and the Sindh High Court had announced verdicts against the power company and ordered Nepra to take action against the power company, while on the other Nepra and the federal government have continuously been showering blessings on the company.”

In addition, the government has provided gas to the company without any agreement, and the provision of electricity from the national grid and subsidiaries are on top of everything, he said.

Rehman demanded of the government to nationalise the K-Electric because the power company had been violating the agreement, court orders and rights of the people of Karachi since the privatisation of the KESC.