PESHAWAR: Jamaat-i-Islami workers on Sunday staged demonstrations across the province to protest the prolonged power cuts, backbreaking energy prices, excessive taxes and lawlessness.

A statement issued in the provincial capital said that the sit-ins were staged on the call of JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. In the provincial capital, JI workers staged a sit-in near the Peshawar Press Club, which was led by the party’s provincial general secretary Abdul Wasi, acting Peshawar emir Hamdullah Jan and district general secretary Hidayatullah.

The protesters were carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against the government and Peshawar Electric Supply Company.

On this occasion, Mr Wasi said hundreds of thousands of people would take part in party’s sit-in scheduled to be held in Islamabad on July 26. He insisted the sit-in would be the last nail in the coffin of the ruling parties.

Participants demand discounted electricity supply to KP people

“KP is producing over 8,000 megawatts of cheap hydroelectricity,” he said, adding the province’s own requirement stood at only 2,500 megawatts, which cost only Re1 to Rs3 per unit to produce.

He said if KP was given its own electricity, then there would not be a second of loadshedding. However, Mr Wasi said KP was facing the worst loadshedding, which had resulted into closure of factories and unemployment. “These unemployed youths are turning into drug addicts,” he said.

Mr Wasi said JI was out in the streets to contest the case of the public and would continue its fight for the rights of people.

He said KP people would not tolerate overbilling and loadshedding.

Also, JI’s provincial chief Prof Mohammad Ibrahim Khan led a protest in his native Bannu district.

Sit-ins were also arranged in Mardan, Haripur, Chitral, Buner and other cities as well.

The party said that its workers would again protest in various cities on Monday (today) to raise awareness regarding its July 26 sit-in in Islamabad.

Like other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, hundreds of Jamaat workers in Lower Dir led by their district emir Izazul Mulk Afkari held a protest rally against inflation, lawlessness and unemployment.

The JI workers came out of its district headquarters in Balambat and marched on the roads.

Carrying banners and placards inscribed with slogans against price hike, lawlessness and targeted killing, the protesters also chanted slogans against the government for its failure to control skyrocketing prices of daily use items.

The rally was addressed by Izazul Mulk Afkari, JI Youth Wing president Ateequr Rehman and others.

The speakers criticised the rulers for their failure to control militancy, targeted killing and unemployment. They said that the Shehbaz Sharif-led government had lost its credibility among masses.

The speakers said that fresh elections were the only solution to all problems faced by the nation. They asked the party workers to mobilise general public to participate in the JI protest sit-in on July 26.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2024