JI launches public referendum to address city’s issues

Demands proper census, empowered local govt, KE’s nationalisation

A three-day public referendum under Jamaat-e-Islami’s (JI) Karachi Rights Movement was initiated on Friday and will continue till Sunday.

Marking the start of the referendum, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced the names of members of the referendum commission and cast his vote.

The commission comprises former attorney general of Pakistan Justice (retd) Anwar Mansoor Khan as its head, Qamar Usman as the chief secretary, and Nazim F Haji as the commissioner. Other members of the commission are industrialist Jawed Bilwani, former president of Karachi Bar Association (KBA) Naeem Qureshi, KBA president Munir Ahmed Malik, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists secretary general Sohail Afzal, Karachi Press Club president Imtiaz Khan Faran, Anwar Shaoor of the Pakistan Islamic Medical Association, poet Saad Niaz, columnist Tauseef Ahmed Khan, Global Oversees Pakistanis president Jamaluddin and former Karachi Press Club secretary Maqsood Yousufi. 

Speaking to media persons on the occasion, Rehman said no city could have its infrastructure developed in the absence of a proper census.

He further said that neither the government, nor the opposition seemed serious about resolving Karachi’s issues.

“The prime minister came to Karachi for just few hours, announced the Karachi package and went back. Now they [the government and opposition] are engaged in political point-scoring over it [the package],” he remarked. It was unfortunate that parties which grew by claiming they would work for Karachi had abandoned it, he added.

Rehman said that as part of Karachi Rights Movement, the JI would strive to get the metropolis’ issues resolved through public pressure. 

Moreover, he put forward the JI’s demands for the city, stating that an empowered local bodies system should be brought in place, the city be given the status of ‘mega metropolitan city’, a census should be carried out in proper manner to ensure the fair distribution of resources and better implementation of development initiatives, quota system should be abolished, 700 union committees be constituted to conduct free, fair and transparent local bodies elections, and K-Electric be nationalised besides auditing its records of the past 15 years. 

After Friday prayers, referendum camps were set up at different locations, including mosques, across the city, where scores of people cast votes.

Initially, JI has printed and distributed seven million ballot papers across Karachi’s districts.