KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Saturday announced that it would besiege CM House on April 20 and call for a “shutter-down strike” on the 27th if the government and the institutions concerned failed to resolve the power crisis that had made the lives of 25 million people miserable despite exorbitant tariff set by the regulator for the port city.

The warning came from the top party leadership when JI chief Senator Sirajul Haq came up with details of its protest campaign that was initially launched against K-Electric and later expanded into “a movement for rights of Karachiites”, who were left “abandoned by the parties which owned their mandate and both the provincial and federal authorities”.

To call shutter-down strike in city on 27th if the situation persists

“The lives of Karachiites have been made miserable and, above all, there is no one to raise voice for the people of this city,” he said during a press conference at the party’s Karachi headquarters, Idara Noor-i-Haq. “Like last year, we are not giving up this year [too]. We have made it very loud and clear. If the government, K-Electric and all those responsible for pushing Karachi into darkness do not resolve the power crisis, we would go for a legal and peaceful protest campaign.

“On April 20, we will lay siege to CM House and on 27th we will call strike across the city. I appeal to every Karachiite who wants Karachi to become the ‘city of lights’ again to come forward and cooperate with the Jamaat-i-Islami for this very human cause.”

He criticised the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government in Sindh and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the Centre, calling them two sides of the same coin, as one had neglected Karachi and the other never owned the business capital as part of its governance responsibility.

“Apart from ruling this city, it is unfortunate that those who always claimed to have mandate of Karachi have never bothered to raise voice for their voters and people,” said the JI chief. “The power crisis, deteriorating local bodies system and the [crumbling] infrastructure of Karachi have emerged as a test case for the parties claiming Karachi’s mandate for the past three decades. Criminal silence of these parties has proved their loyalty lies somewhere else but not with the people of this city. They have preferred mafias over their voters.”

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2018