JI Chief Hafiz Naeem announces Feb 14 sit-in outside Sindh Assembly

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Chief, Engineer Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, has announced a protest sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly on February 14. Warning the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) to “pack up,” the JI leader addressed a massive “Jeenay Do Karachi March” (Let Karachi Live) on Shahrah-e-Faisal this Sunday, ARY News reported.

During the rally, Hafiz Naeem criticized Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for failing to visit the city following the tragic Gul Plaza inferno. “It is a matter of shame,” he remarked. “The Premier did not even arrive to share the grief of victims’ families in the city that runs the entire country.”

The JI Chief also lambasted President Asif Ali Zardari and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, noting that despite maintaining residences in Karachi, neither leader visited the site of the deadly fire. Directing his comments at Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and Mayor Murtaza Wahab, he warned: “Quit the government gracefully, otherwise Gen Z will force you to run away.”

Hafiz Naeem dismissed the ongoing friction between the MQM-P and the PPP as a “sham contest,” accusing both parties of robbing the city of its resources.

“We must end this system of occupation,” he declared. “We do not accept the occupation of Karachi by the federal or provincial governments.”

He further emphasized that while the Constitution mandates that power be devolved to local governments, current rulers continue to deprive the masses of their rights.

Referring to the recent tragedy, he said: “Humans were burning in the Gul Plaza fire, but there was no one to help them.”

Even he said that the sit-in will continue in sacred month of Ramzan.

Concluding his address, the JI Chief stated that the people of Karachi are demanding their right to live and progress. He demanded that the city be granted a powerful, authoritative local government system.