JI holds sit-in, blames PPP for dilapidated water supply system in Karachi

In an event as part of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) campaign for the rights of Karachi, workers of the religious party on Wednesday attended a protest sit-in outside the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board (KWSB) headquarters on Sharea Faisal against persistent non-supply of water to several areas of the city.

Addressing the sit-in participants, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rahman warned that his party had launched its campaign focusing on the water problem and it would further expand its protests to other institutions depriving the Karachiites of their due rights.

“Almost the entire city is facing a shortage of water and residents are forced to purchase water through water tankers but the same water is not supplied through lines just because of corruption,” he said. Rehman added that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the ruling party in the province, was directly responsible for the dilapidated water supply system in the city.

“Former mayor Niamatullah Khan had completed the K-III plant and forwarded the K-IV water project aimed at supplying 650 million gallons of water per day to Karachi,” the JI leader said. “But the ruling regimes that came later put the project on the back burner.”

The JI city chief accused the PPP, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) of causing the delay. He said all the major political parties claimed to own the city but did exactly the opposite on the ground.

Criticising the PTI-led federal government, Rehman said Prime Minister Imran Khan had announced packages of Rs1,100 billion and Rs62 billion separately during the past three years. “But the government didn't spend even Rs5 billion,” he claimed. He added that due to pressure by multiple quarters, the three major political parties, the PTI, MQM-P and PPP had constituted a committee to run the Karachi Transformation Plan. “Now, the residents of Karachi are duly asking for the outcome of the plan and the committee.”

The JI leader said that after plundering the resources of the city, the government was mulling over privatising the water board. JI leader and MPA Syed Abdul Rasheed also addressed the protest sit-in and alleged that there was high-level in provincial institutions.

People from various walks of life and representatives of various affected areas participated in the sit-in. Many of them shared their ordeal and demanded of the government to resolve the water issue to avoid a humanitarian crisis. They also lauded the JI leadership for taking up the issue on behalf of the people of Karachi.