JI announces mass contact drive in Karachi against delay in local govt polls

The Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi chapter has decided to launch a mass contact drive in the city as part of protests against the postponement of the local government elections in the city.

Karachi Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday accused the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan of colluding in delaying the local government elections in Karachi.

Chairing a high-level huddle of the JI at the Idara Noor-e-Haq, the party’s headquarters in Karachi, he said both the PPP and MQM-P were afraid of the JI’s popularity among the people of Karachi, due to which they did not want the local government polls to be held.

The meeting reviewed the party's political progress in Karachi as well as the current political situation of the city against the backdrop of the next local government elections that have been delayed multiple times.

The party leadership decided that they would visit neighbourhoods across the city to mobilise the people against the delay in the local government polls and persuade them to take to the streets for their rights.

Rehman said that the party had raised concerns for the rights of the people of Karachi and fought for them on all the fronts, as a result of which the JI's popularity had hit new heights in the city and the results of recent surveys in connection with the local bodies polls reflected that.

He maintained that the political opponents of the JI were afraid of its popularity so they had joined hands and hatched up a conspiracy against the local government elections. However, he asserted, the JI with the help of the public would foil the conspiracy.

The Karachi JI chief stated that the JI had already approached judiciary against the delay in the local government elections and would also submit its written at the meeting of the Election Commission of Pakistan to be held in the days to come.

He demanded that the Election Commission of Pakistan announce a final date for the local government elections instead of taking dictation from the provincial government of the PPP in Sindh.

Rehman further said that the PPP government in Sindh had written a letter to the ECP, demanding further delay in the polls in defiance of the democratic norms, law and Constitution.

Student unions

Meanwhile, the Sindh JI chief and former National Assembly member Muhammad Hussain Mehanti has said that the Sindh government should immediately restore the student unions and ensure appointments of teachers on merit.

This he said in a meeting with a delegation of the the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba. He said the provincial government had admitted its failure regarding education in the Sindh High Court as its report revealed that thousands of schools had been closed for 10 years, 4,500 teachers were absent, and 6,500 schools were shelter-less.

He said the government, instead of playing with the future of the new generations, should appoint meritorious and capable teachers at schools so that the literacy rate in Sindh could be increased. The children in the province had the right to basic facilities and better education, he added.

The JI leader also castigated the Sindh government for the recent action against protesting healthcare providers. He said the violence and humiliation of women health workers was reflecting the dictatorial attitude of the Sindh government. He was of the view that the government should not have cut the risk allowance for the health workers.