KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Tuesday ended its sit-in against the K-Electric over power outages and ‘overbilling’ outside Gove­rnor House on the fourth day of its protest following assurance from Sindh Governor Mohammed Zubair that he would take up their demands with the power utility.

However, while ending the protest, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rahman warned that the party would stage a comeback with stronger protest if their demands were not met within 15 days.

Dozens of Jamaat-i-Islami workers were staging a sit-in outside Governor House since Saturday afternoon against K-Electric for issues related to the private power utility.

On the fourth day of their protest, the JI leadership was invited for talks in Governor House, where an hour-long discussion led to the announcement from the party that they were ending the protest ‘conditionally’.

“The governor suggested calling a meeting [of] JI leaders with the K-Electric management, but we didn’t agree [to] that,” Hafiz Naeem told reporters after the meeting. “We are very thankful to the governor that he realised the issue and invited us for talks. But we made it clear that past meetings with the K-Electric management did not lead to any solid result due to [the] power utility’s arrogance. We have requested him [Sindh governor] to intervene in the issue as representative of the federation to resolve the power crisis in Karachi.”

He said it was decided in the meeting with the governor that K-Electric would be approached by the governor’s office with the people’s demands highlighted by the JI over the past month.

“We have made it clear that we are only postponing our protest, not calling it off permanently. If K-Electric doesn’t respond to our demands within 15 days, we would use every legal option to resume our protest campaign in different parts of the city,” said the JI Karachi chief.

Published in Dawn, May 3rd, 2017