KARACHI: The Jamaat-i-Islami on Sunday staged a sit-in outside Sindh Governor House against frequent hike in power tariff, growing inflation and demanded immediate relief for the poverty-stricken people.

A large number of workers and supporters of the party marched on the Governor House from Passport Office, Saddar before staging the sit-in.

Addressing the participants of the sit-in, JI chief Sirajul Haq said that time has come to initiate the decisive phase for the struggle for the rights of common man.

He said the JI would continue its rights movement against oppressors and their facilitators till its logical conclusion.

He demanded that all “illegal” agreements with the independent power producers (IPPs) be abolished and the caretaker government rectified the uneven and unjust tax regime that provides extraordinary favours to feudal lords and excessively burden the already marooned salaried class.

He said that the caretaker government recently reduced petrol price by only Rs8 instead of the rectification of its price as per the international market where the petroleum prices have decreased.

He urged people to vote for the JI’s candidates in the upcoming elections.

The JI leader also declared his party’s support for the resistance fighters of Palestine against Israel and felicitated them for the actions.

Earlier in his address, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, while referring to his party’s movement for rights of Karachi and its people, warned that the policies of the federal and provincial governments for the country’s business capital would cause suffering to the masses and could lead to a national disaster.

He also reiterated his demand that the licence of K-Electric be revoked and a forensic audit of its accounts conducted.

The sit-in ended peacefully in the evening.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2023