JI mulling over wheel-jam strike, long march if relief accord not honoured: Naeem

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) emir Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said that a wheel-jam strike or strikes, and a long march on Islamabad are under consideration as the deadline for the government to honour the agreement is approaching.

Addressing a press conference at the JI Karachi’s headquarters, he said that the interior minister has announced he will visit Mansora — the party’s central headquarters in Lahore, in order to share developments on the agreement.

However, Rehman made it clear that the nation doesn’t need mere announcements but concrete steps, including relief for the masses and revocation of agreements with the independent power producers.

Initially the party had announced a shutter-down strike, now a series of wheel-jam strikes, a million march and a long march on Islamabad were under consideration. He demanded of 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 it has now turned into a heap of garbage and a city of broken roads. He added that the road from the Gurumandir area to the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah is now dubbed as “one-day road” because it is flushed away in just one day rains.

Rehman said the JI had come up as the single largest party in the city during the local government elections, but the Pakistan Peoples Party government abused its powers in the province and captured the post of mayor with the alleged 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 hindrances in the 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, 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 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 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 leader also shed light on alleged massive corruption in CLICK projects, expensive electricity for the industry, prevailing downfall of the cottage industry and other sectors. JI Karachi Amir Monem Zafar and other leaders, including General Secretary Taufiquiddin Siddqui, Saifuddin advocate, MPA Mohammad Farooq, Imran Shahid, and Zahid Askari, were also present in the press conference.