JI demands govt, institutions to play due role for relief, rehabilitation of flood affected people

KARACHI, Sep 02 (SABAH): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman demanded of the government and state institutions to play their due role and take concrete steps for relief and rehabilitation of the flood affected people.

The JI leader made the demand here on Friday while visiting a central kitchen setup to facilitate the flood affected people in camps setup at Gadap and other areas.

Speaking on the occasion, the JI leader asked the government to provide accommodation to the affected people in governmental buildings, Cantonment areas, DHA and Bahria Town in order to discourage the encroachment mafia.

He said that the PPP government in Sindh has always played the ethnic card but it was not the time to do so. He quoted the affected people in Gadap Town as saying that the government did nothing for them.

Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan has set up make shift camps in Malir and Gadap Town in order to facilitate the local affected people. He added that Alkhidmat was also planning to establish model villages and housing scheme in order to rehabilitate the flood affected people. He added that the JI was also expending the system to kitchens and that the affected people will not be let alone and on the mercy of the provincial government.

Strongly criticizing the government, the JI leader said that floods had caused havoc in 2010 but the government and institutions supposed to address the issue did nothing to take precautionary measures or to devise a strategy for the future. The government in all the four provinces showed criminal negligence in this regard, he said, adding that institutions of disaster management also did nothing despite timely warnings.

The JI leader further said that the Sindh government was pressing the flood affected people for agitation by focusing on foreign aids instead of taking measures to provide some relief to the affected people. As a result, he said, the affected people were holding protests on roads of interior Sindh areas. The affected people were also besieging and halting the motorcades of provincial legislatures and ministers in Sindh.

Later, the JI leader also visited his constituency and received a cheque worth Rs10 million. On the occasion, he thanked the nation for their expression of trust in the JI. He also highlighted the role of overseas Pakistanis and warmly thanked them for supporting their brothers in need back at home.

He added that Alkhidmat was dispatching relief items worth tens of millions of rupees to the affected areas on daily basis. He said that a large number of women and youngsters have also been joining the volunteers at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI Karachi headquarters, for relief work since the beginning of the campaign for the affected people.