JI to hold protests today at 100 locations against power, water crises

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi will stage protest demonstrations today (Friday) at 100 different places against the electricity and water crises in the city.

JI Karachi Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced this on Thursday at a press conference held at the Idara Noor-e-Haq, the party’s Karachi headquarters. He also announced a 48-hour deadline to end load-shedding in Karachi and warned of besieging the K-Electric (KE) head office if the power company failed to meet the deadline.

“Federal Minister Khurram Dastagir had claimed that the country had become free of load-shedding with effect from May 1. Karachi’s residents want to know if the federal government takes the megalopolis as part of the country or not,” he said.

Rehman demanded that the federal government ensure reimbursement of Rs42 billion in clawback by the KE. He also demanded a forensic audit of the company accounts for the past 17 years.

The JI city chief said Karachi and its residents had been facing load-shedding up to 14 hours during the ongoing heatwave. He recalled that the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation was privatised to bring improvement in its functions but instead of any betterment, the KE showed worst performance and had ironically been enjoying all perks and protection on the state level because of support from the successive ruling regimes.

He said people, particularly students, who were about to appear in the matriculation examination as well as the labour class were suffering because of the unlimited greed and incompetence of the KE. MPA Syed Abdul Rasheed and other JI leaders accompanied Rehman during the press conference.