KARACHI: Rejecting the recently-passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill 2021, the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) on Monday announced launching a “massive protest campaign” for the withdrawal of the legislation from Wednesday (tomorrow).

It has planned sit-ins, a black day and rallies against what it called the “dictatorial law”, which would turn the province into a “Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) colony”.

The JI leaders said that the party had decided to take to the streets against the bill after every effort to convince the PPP government and suggesting measures for a better and effective local government system had failed to fetch positive results.

“They [PPP leaders] only want anyone from their party to run the affairs of this province despite the fact that they are no longer wanted,” Karachi JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rahman told a press conference at Idara-i-Noor-i-Haq.

A delegation of PSP calls on Jamaat-i-Islami leaders; PML-N expresses concerns on new law

He said: “The PPP is so scared and so sure about its defeat in the LG polls in urban Sindh that it in a haste has prepared such a vulnerable, ineffective and so ill-written draft for the law which doesn’t prove its own utility. Since the government isn’t ready to pay heed and follow the democratic norms, it would find us among the people who would take to the street and express their anger.”

He said under the party’s “Save Karachi” movement protest sit-ins against the bill would be held at 11 key points across the city on Dec 1 (tomorrow) followed by a “Black Day” to be observed on Dec 3 featuring protest demonstrations, walks and corner meetings in different parts of the metropolis.

“On Dec 12, a massive Save Karachi march will be taken out to be attended by prominent individuals from all walks of life,” he said. “I also heard the other day when LG Minister Syed Nasir Hussain was claiming that the bill was drafted in line with JI recommendations. It’s so unfortunate that people deceive and lie just for political gains. The JI has always recommended an empowered mega city government in Karachi but the PPP government tabled a bill for a powerless and ceremonial set-up, depriving it from previously available powers.”

PSP delegation visits JI office

Meanwhile, a delegation of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) comprising Shabbir Kaimkhani, Arshad Vohra and others visited Idara-i-Noor-i-Haq and met JI leaders to discuss the problems of Karachi and situation emerged after the passage of the recent LG bill in the Sindh Assembly.

The two sides agreed that the PPP was bent upon depriving the people of Karachi of their basic rights and vowed to continue their struggle from their political platforms against what they termed an anti-democratic rule in Sindh.

PML-N reservations

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), on the other hand, also raised its serious reservations over the Sindh LG (Amendment) Bill 2021.

In a statement, the general secretary of the PML-N’s Karachi chapter, Nasiruddin Mahmood, said the bill negated the spirit of democracy and did not comply with the definition of devolution of powers.

He demanded that the PPP government review its stance and also give space to the opposition in line with democratic norms.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2021