KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Sirajul Haque said on Sunday that the people's protest will force the Pakistan Peoples Party to withdraw the controversial Local Government Bill.
Haque, while addressing a workers' conference organized at the protest site outside the Sindh Assembly, said the PPP leadership in Sindh will have to focus on dharna or face music representing the aspirations of Karachi's 30 million people. Sunday is its 24th day.
He paid rich tributes to the participants of the sit-in for representing the aspirations of the 30 million people of Karachi and showing an unshakable resolve even in the most difficult weather conditions.
He said that the JI would not leave the people of Karachi alone and would take the Karachi case to all parts of the country. The JI chief said that Karachi is not only facing anarchy and bloodshed but is also becoming a victim of inflation and injustice. "Islamic governance is the only way to get rid of all these issues," he said. He said, "What is the difference between PTI and PPP and PML-N and or any other political system of injustice was imposed on the people of Pakistan by the same ruling elite, which is an extension of the East India Company".
A true Muslim will never support tyranny and oppression, he asked the people of Karachi not to support those who are responsible for the injustice done to Karachi and Karachi. He said the ruling elite always supported the US and the IMF but betrayed the country. He said that people of one province have been dharna outside the provincial legislative assembly for 24 days but no one takes action.
Siraj Haque slammed Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and said that those who always chant the mantra of democracy, they are breaking records of corruption but are not ready to pay attention to the real issues of their own people.
"I want to ask the PPP leadership to pay attention to the aspirations of the people." He said that both the PTI and the PPP have entered into the understanding of merely pitting themselves against each other but will not challenge each other's fascism at the Center and Sindh province.
He said, "Prime Minister Imran Khan says that peace will be found only in graves, but I want to tell him that because of what he has done, he will not be able to find peace even in graves."
Karachi chief Hafiz Naimur Rahman announced a two-day ultimatum to the Sindh government to withdraw the black law. Otherwise, he said, either all the five main entrances to the city or the major arteries in Karachi would be blocked. He said only ambulances would be allowed to pass through the blocked roads.
Rahman said that the PPP government in Sindh is trying to hide its incompetence and corruption behind the inefficiency and corruption of the federal government.
The JI Karachi chief said that the PPP has been ruling the province for more than 14 years and has gradually taken over the local bodies, but the situation in Karachi and other parts of the province is clear in its capacity and intentions. He also condemned the Tando Allahyar incident and said that he will not allow the politics of hate, divide and language.
On this occasion, the sit-in convention in turn passed a resolution calling for the transfer of certain powers from the provincial government to the elected representatives of the local government. The proposal also demanded the government to conduct a census to determine the actual population of Karachi and other cities.