ISLAMABAD, May 2: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday strongly criticised the increase in electricity tariff for the people of Karachi and warned that it might entail a serious law and order problem.

Speaking at a news conference, Haider Abbas Rizvi demanded that President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz take immediate notice of the discrimination being meted out to Karachiites and the electricity tariff be made at par with other parts of the country.

Kunwar Khalid Yunas, Israrul Ibad, Afsar Begum, Iqbal Mohammad Ali Khan and Abdul Wasim were also present on the occasion.

Mr Rizvi said that while the per unit price of electricity was Rs3.59, it has been put at Rs.5.1 per unit for the Karachi consumers.

He said he feared that the people of Karachi, a majority of whom belonging to the lower middle class, would not be able to pay the hiked electricity bills and take to the streets and create law and order problem for the Sindh government.