Wheel jam strike, long march to Islamabad under consideration: Hafiz Naeemur Rehman

KARACHI, Sep 09 (SABAH): Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said that a wheel-jam strike or strikes, and a long march to Islamabad are under consideration as the deadline of agreement with the government has been approaching.

The JI chief expressed these views while addressing a press conference held at Idara Noor-e-Haq — the JI Karachi Headquarters, on Monday. He was flanked by JI Karachi Emir Monem Zafar Khan and other leaders, including General Secretary Taufiquiddin Siddqui, Saifuddin Advocate, MPA Muhammad Farooq, Imran Shahid and Zahid Askari.

Speaking on the occasion, the JI chief said that the interior minister has announced to visit Mansoorah — the party’s central headquarters in Lahore, in order to share developments on the agreement. However, Haifz Naeemur Rehman made it clear that the nation doesn’t need mere announcements but concrete steps, including relief for masses and abolishment of agreements with the Independent Power Producers.

Initially the party had announced a shutter down strikes, now a series of wheel-jam strikes, million march and long march to Islamabad were under consideration. He demanded the government to unmask all the agreements inked with the IPPs.

Talking about the prevailing situation in Karachi, he said that once the city of lights has now turned into a heap of garbage and city of broken roads. He added that the road from Gurumandir area to the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is now dubbed in Karachi as “one-day road” because it is flushed away in just one day rains.

He added that the JI had come up as the single largest party in the city during the local government elections but the Pakistan People Party government abused its powers in the province and captured the post of mayor with the help of the Election Commission of Pakistan.

He held the PPP and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement responsible for the prevailing situation in Karachi while saying that both the parties were imposed on the city despite the fact that both had no mandate in the city.

The JI leader further said that the ruling regime has been creating hindrance in local governments’ setup across the country. He added that the JI would approach the judiciary in this regard.

Talking about the JI’s countrywide membership campaign, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman quoted various polls about public opinion as saying that the JI is being considered as the only party that takes up issues of public interest. He said that people have been responding overwhelmingly to the call of the party for membership.

He urged the youth of the country — both male and female, to response overwhelmingly to the JI’s membership campaign.

On the occasion, he also stressed the need to complete the K-4 water supply project and said that unfortunately successive ruling regimes have been misleading the masses in this regard. He said that Karachi and Karachiites have been facing water scarcity despite the fact that the nearby Hub River Dam is overflowing.

He said that the JI will continue its rights movement for Karachi and Karachiites. The PPP government doesn’t own Karachi, it takes the mega city only as an opportunity to plunder and mint money, he said.

The JI chief also shed light on the massive corruption in CLICK projects, expensive electricity offering to the industry, prevailing downfall of the cottage industry and other sectors.