JI slams PPP over disputed LG bill

KARACHI: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Sunday organised a protest march on Shahrah-e-Faisal to protest against the recently-passed controversial Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021, demanding the the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to withdraw it immediately.

Holding placards and banners, the charged protesters chanted slogans against the PPP government and the recently-passed law. They also demanded civic and municipal rights of Karachi, a fresh population census in the metropolis, and an empowered local government system in the urban centre of Sindh.

The rally, led by JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, started from the Baloch Colony and ended at the central sit-in camp outside the Sindh Assembly after passing through the city’s main thoroughfare.

Addressing the protesters, JI’s metropolis chief Rehman said that the participation of a large number of people of Karachi in the march shows that the city will not accept any illegal move in the name of the legislation that violates the Constitution, undermines the authority of local government, and usurps the rights of Karachiites. “It’s an anti-constitutional and feudal attitude of the PPP government in Sindh,” he said.

The JI leader also announced to hold 2,000 corner meetings against the disputed local government bill across the city this week. He said that the resources of Karachi are in the hands of those who accumulated authority and government on the basis of power and corruption.

He said that 6.5 million children in Sindh are out of school. “Rs277 billion are reported to be spent on the education sector by the Sindh government but the dismal situation on the ground shows some other facts,” he said, adding: “Similarly, the Sindh government reports to spend Rs173 billion on the health sector but in fact, the majority of the budget fell prey to corruption.”

As far as the competency of the PPP government was concerned, it failed to complete some 2.5 kilometers long Orange Line project in Orangi Town during the past six years, he said. Shahra-e-Faisal’s track leading from the airport to the city’s centre was closed partially because of the JI’s march. The police also blocked the road leading to the Chief Minister House.

The JI’s major demands include a direct election for the post of mayor, forming union councils in Karachi in parity with other areas of the province, placing the Karachi Development Authority and other development institutions under the LG set-up, placing all the city’s educational and health institutions under the mayor.