JI’s 17-point declaration

Party demands fresh census, empowered local govt system


Our Correspondent March 30, 2021

KARACHI:

After the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi's rally culminated for a sit-in at the Sindh Governor House late on Sunday night, the party issued a 17-point declaration demanding a fresh census, an empowered local government system for the city and an end to the job quota system. The party has called for 15 per cent of the revenue collected from the metropolis to be allocated for the city's development.

Calling on the federal government to conduct a fresh census of the metropolis, the JI maintained that the 2017 census showed the population of Karachi at around 15 million but the actual population of the city exceeds 30m. The declaration demanded of the Sindh government to play its due part in this regard.

The JI stressed that metropolis should be provided representation in the legislature in accordance with its population.

Read more: JI announces rally on March 26

At the local level, the party called for the number and delimitations of union councils to be reconsidered in light of the actual population count, and stressed that an empowered local body system be set in place, with the direct election of the city mayor.

Karachi should be declared a mega-metropolitan city and all the relevant institutions should be placed under its authority, stated the JI's declaration.

Moreover, the party called for an end to the quota system and sought a merit-based system instead for admissions at training institutes and for employment opportunities.

The 17-point declaration included the demand for improvements in public sector educational institutions, an end to the K-Electric's monopoly on the city's power supply, an audit of the power utility's accounts and called on the government to retain at least 51 per cent shares of the company. Besides, the party called for the restoration of Pakistan Steel Mills and the Pakistan International Airlines as well as the immediate completion of mass transit and water projects.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2021.

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