JI sit-in: 'Entire Pakistan to show solidarity with Karachi on Sunday'

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Ameer Senator Sirajul Haq has appealed to entire Pakistan to come forward on Sunday to show solidarity with the people of Karachi in protest against the controversial Sindh Local Government (LG) law.

JI Pakistan Ameer Sirajul Haq made the announcement while addressing the party’s sit-in being held outside the Sindh Assembly building against Sindh LG law aimed at taking away powers of the local government setup.

The JI sit-in has entered eight consecutive days in which a large of workers turned up at the venue of the sit-in to record protest against the PPP government.

Among other prominent personalities, religious scholar Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Karachi Tajir Ittehdad (KTI) President Attique Mir, Ulema Council central leader Maulana Zaffar Azad, Kamil Multani of the Pakistan Business Forum and others visited the sit-in and expressed solidarity to the JI protesters.

Sirajul Haq in his address said that the progress and development of Karachi is progress and development of Pakistan.  Pakistan can’t progress while keeping Karachi in darkness, he added.

He said that the JI’s struggle, be it in Karachi, Gwadar, Islamabad or Chitral is not against any political party, it was against injustice, the system of oppression.

ANTI-LG LAW SIT-IN: JI ANNOUNCES EXPANDING PROTESTS TO DIFFERENT PARTS OF SINDH

Even the political rivals of the JI including Pervez Musharraf and then Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Ishratul Ebad Khan had acknowledged the services rendered by JI’s Naimatullah Khan for Karachi, he said.

Comparing the domestic and international situations, he said the modern world is conquering new skies while in Karachi pipelines for sewerage and water supply are passing through the same channels.

The PPP has taken away the powers of mayors and handover them to the chief minister, “How much more power do you want to accumulate,”  he asked, saying that for a long time people of Sindh have supported the PPP but the people in the province could not progress.

He said that Faislabad, Sialkot and other cities of Punjab have developed and questioned that why Larkana, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Jamshoro and other cities could not progress despite the continuous rule of the PPP in Sindh. Only corruption thrived in cities of Sindh, he said.

He also talked about the issue of malnutrition in Tharparkar children, he also highlighted the deteriorating condition of public education and health sectors in the province.

The JI supremo also talked in detail about the issues being faced by Karachiites and vowed to make Karachi the city of lights again.

Addressing the sit-in, JI Karachi chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman paid a rich tribute to resilient party workers and said that their resolve has grabbed the attention of the entire province and not only delegations from across the Sindh are approaching the sit-in but people from across the land of Sufis have taken to the street today against the black law.

He warned the Sindh government against taking shelter behind the accusations of playing ethnic cards. Demanding rights for rural and urban areas of the province doesn’t equate to playing ethnic card, he said.

It was the PPP and the MQM that ignited the Sindhi-Muhajir riots in Hyderabad and other areas, he said, adding that the JI was only demanding rights for Karachiites and other cities of the province. He said that the JI targets Wadershahi and not Sindhis.

He made it clear that the JI was open for dialogue with the PPP over the issue but at the same time consultations were undergoing to expand the scope of the protest campaign against the black law.