Jamaat demands at least 700 union committees in city

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will accept delimitations for the new local government polls only if at least 700 union committees are formed in Karachi.

JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said this on Sunday as he addressed a protest sit-in outside the K-Electric (KE) head office in the Gizri area of the city against prolonged power outages in Karachi and other issues associated with the power utility.

He warned that the JI would launch protests against the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) if the latter did injustice to Karachi during the delimitation exercise under pressure from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).

The JI would not accept new delimitations of they were against Karachi, he announced. The JI leader also warned the PPP that it would launch a protest campaign if the latter tried to bring any local body law against conducting local body elections in the city.

“We demand that the youth of Karachi and Hyderabad be given jobs and they be not robbed through fake domiciles,” he said. Rehman said the residents of the metropolis were being deceived in the name of the Karachi Transformation Plan. “A package of Rs1,100 billion has been announced but nothing has been done. Earlier, a Rs162 billion package was announced but it is not known where that money was spent,” he remarked. He was of the view that the people of Karachi had been wronged in the recent budget. The JI would intensify and expand the struggle for the rights of the residents of Karachi, he said.

He stated that the JI was the only party that was voicing 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 at 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.