KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Sirajul Haq said on Sunday that the Pakistani ruling elite and certain generals had always supported the US and the International Monetary Fund at the cost of their own country.

“The prevailing system of injustice has been imposed on the people of Pakistan by the same ruling elite that is an extension of the East India Company,” he said.

Addressing a large number of protesters taking part in the sit-in outside the Sindh Assembly, which entered its 24th day on Sunday, he said the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership in Sindh would have to take notice of the sit-in, which represented the aspirations of the 30 million residents of Karachi, or face the music.

The protesters are agitating against the Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Act 2021, which they term a black law.

Mr Haq told the protesters that although their sit-in had been going on for several weeks right outside the provincial legislature, no one had taken any action, “not even the judge who was interested in the issue of a local mosque”.

He lashed out at Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, saying that people who always chanted the mantra of democracy were breaking records with their corruption, but were not ready to heed the genuine concerns of their own citizens.

He commended the protesters’ resolve to persevere with their protest despite the cold weather.

Published in Dawn, January 24th, 2022