JI holds protest demonstrations across Karachi against water crisis

The Jamat-e-Islami on Saturday held 15 protest demonstrations at different parts of Karachi against the prolonged water crisis in the city.

A large number of people participated in protests. Many of them carried placards and banners against what they termed the water tanker mafia. They also chanted slogans against the government decrying unavailability of water in the megacity.

The protesters demanded that Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, who is also the chairman of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC), resign from his post as he had failed to discharge his responsibilities.

Karachi JI Emir Monem Zafar addressed the central protest on Burnes Road. He warned the government of consequences if the water crisis was not resolved. The JI would announce its future course of action in this regard after consultations, he said.

He stated that the people of Karachi would have to come forward and take to the streets against injustice and the occupation regime for their due rights.

The JI leader said the late mayor Niamatullah Khan completed the K-III water supply project and initiated work for the K-IV project, but since his tenure ended, the incompetent ruling regimes failed to complete the project.

He lamented that the K-IV project could not be completed in more than one-and-a-half decades.

Zafar elaborated that initially the K-IV water supply project was meant to supply 650 million gallons of water per day but the Pakistan Peoples Party’s Sindh government in collaboration with the federation curtailed the project to 260 million gallons per day.

He said negligence, corruption, incompetency and mismanagement on part of the ruling regimes and the water corporation resulted in waste of water. In the current scenario, the people of Karachi would not receive enough water, even if the K-IV was completed, he said.

The JI leader remarked that the authorities had confessed that water was being sold to Karachiites through 5,500 water tankers.

The authorities would have to explain why they did not supply water in lines and why citizens were compelled to purchase the same water through tankers on commercial rates, he added.

He reiterated the JI’s demand for the completion of the K-IV water supply project, restoration and renewal of water supply lines and immediate restoration of water supply to Karachi.

The JI leader said the water corporation and government were incompetent as they had turned an incident of leakage into a water crisis and suspended water supply to the mega city that housed some 30 million individuals.

He remarked that Karachi provided for more than 95 per cent budget for Sindh but the provincial government had put all the needs of the city on the back burner.

He demanded that the government shun the policy of harbouring the tanker mafia and restore water supply to Karachi.

JI leader Sufyan Dilawar and others also addressed the protest on Burnes Road. Other protest demonstrations were held on Sharea Faisal, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, National Highway, Nazimabad and other areas of the city.