Sindh drowned by incompetent govt, not floods, says JI’s provincial chief

The reason behind extreme poverty, low literacy and deprivation in Sindh is the bad governance that has flourished for long under the corrupt feudal system.

The Sindh emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Muhammad Hussain Mehanti, said this on Sunday while addressing a meeting of the party’s provincial Shura at the Quba Auditorium. He said that the JI had no personal issues with the Sindh government or the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) but it wanted better governance in Sindh instead of poverty and hunger. The government should ensure relief for flood victims, he added.

He remarked that Sindh was rich in natural resources such as oil, gas and coal, but in spite of that its residents were struggling to get two meals a day. The recent floods and rains had further exposed the incompetence of the Sindh government, he maintained. "If our demands are not taken seriously, the JI will block the highways and stage sit-ins with the people.”

Mehanti said that industries and factories had rapidly been closing down in the province due to which the people were getting unemployed and the economic situation was deteriorating day by day.

The JI leader said that they believed Sindh had not drowned because of floods but because of the corrupt system and incompetent governance. For the elimination of the corrupt leadership and outdated system in the province, its people must show political awareness or else poverty, hunger, misery and floods would be their destiny, he remarked. The newly elected members of the JI’s Sindh Shura for two years took oath at the meeting where the relief activities of the JI’s charity wing Alkhidmat were also reviewed.

Referendum on power bills

Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday announced the extension of the party’s referendum on boycott of electricity bills due to inclusion of municipal charges and other unjust dues for another three days.

The JI leader announced this while talking to the media during his visit to a referendum camp set up in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal area. He said the referendum had been extended to September 28 due to the overwhelming response by the people of Karachi. He also appealed to the housewives and working women to participate in the referendum.

Rehman also asked the students to host the referendum at their respective educational institutes. He said the JI would come up against the K-Electric (KE) with a consensus of all segments of society.

He said that the party demanded that the authorities exclude the municipal utility charges and other unjust taxes as well as the ‘so-called’ fuel adjustment charges from the electricity bills. He also demanded that the government revoke the licence of the KE, nationalise it and hold a forensic audit of the company accounts.

He explained that the JI has already approached judiciary and would utilise its democratic right of protest against the power utility. Rehman said that the only way forward in this regard was the nationalisation of the KE.

The JI leader lambasted the ruling federal government as well as the earlier government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf for what he said sheltering and supporting the private company in an out-of-the-way manner to have kickbacks.

He also criticised the PPP government in Sindh for its ‘anti-people’ policies and asked about the fate of the tax collected by it. He added that the residents of Karachi paid all types of just and unjust taxes, and play more than their due role to keep the country affairs running in a smooth way but the ruling parties continued to keep them deprived of even their basic rights. JI leaders Younous Barai, Zahid Askari and others accompanied Rehman during the visit.