KARACHI: Equating the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with “bandits” who had robbed the people of Karachi of their basic rights, the Jamaat-i-Islami on Tuesday vowed to continue its sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly till the withdrawal of the controversial Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021.

The JI sit-in continued outside the assembly building for the fifth consecutive day despite rain and cold weather.

City JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rahman said that the morale of his workers was high and they were not end their protest until the Sindh government agreed to their terms.

“This city needs a mass transit system,” he said while addressing a press conference at the site of the sit-in. “The people of Karachi also wants [Lahore like] Orange Line Train Service. We also need water. Youngsters of this city also need jobs. What wrong the people of Karachi have done that both the federal and provincial governments are snatching every single facility from the city?”

“After depriving us of everything, they [PPP government] have now come up with a plan to encroach upon the rest of the [municipal] authorities. But enough is enough. We are not here with hollow claims. We will return only with the power for Karachiites,” he said.

Hafiz Naeem accused the PPP government of giving an ethnic colour to his party’s movement for the rights of Karachi and major urban centres of Sindh, saying the ruling party found it the only solution to damage the people’s movement.

He also lashed out at MQM-P saying that like PPP, it was also toeing the same line and both the parties were deliberately creating Sindh-Mohajir divide for their vested political interests. The JI, he said, had never called for ethnic politics and it was party of all ethnic communities living in Pakistan, he added.

“Our only demand is that the injustice being meted out against people of Karachi and even in rural Sindh by the PPP government should come to an end. And for that we are here with representation from all ethnic entities,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PPP government came up with a strong statement against the JI leader’s thoughts and accused the right-wing party of igniting ethnic politics for its vested interests.

In a statement, Sindh Information Minister Saeed Ghani warned Hafiz Naeem that he should avoid “politics of MQM” which returned nothing to Karachiites but bloodshed.

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2022