JI holds sit-ins against controversial LG bill

Says people of Karachi will not accept any legislation that usurps their rights

KARACHI:

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi, in protest against the controversial local government bill, held sit-ins at 11 major arteries of Karachi, here on Wednesday.

The sit-ins marked the commencement of the JI's campaign against the controversial bill aimed at further squeezing the authority and powers of city government in Karachi.

The protests were held at MA Jinnah Road, Shahrah-e-Faisal, North Karachi, Federal B Area, Hyderi Market in North Nazimabad, Orangi Town, Hassan Square and Old Vegetable Wholesale Market in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Korangi and Quaidabad areas.

A large number of people from all walks of life, representatives of trade bodies, besides thousands of JI workers participated in the sit-ins. Protestors, carrying placards and banners, chanted slogans against the Sindh government over its nefarious policy of subduing the authority and powers of the local governments.

JI Karachi chief Engr Hafiz NaeemurRehman addressed the protest sit-ins outside the KMC head office at MA Jinnah Road and at Star gate on Shahrah-e-Faisal.

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Addressing the protests, the JI Karachi chief warned the Sindh government against any ambush on the rights of Karachi. He said that the JI will mobilize the masses and resist the illegal bill on all available forums. He said that the people of Karachi will not accept any illegal legislation that violates the constitution, undermine the authority of local government and usurp the rights of Karachiites.

The JI leader strongly condemned the anti-constitutional attitude of the PPP government in Sindh and said that the amendment bill,bulldozed by the PPPin the Sindh Assembly, was totally in violation of the Constitution of Pakistan's Article 32 and Article 140-A.

He said that the PPP get the bill passed by the provincial assembly in a naked undemocratic fashion to capture the local bodies and paving way to handle masses in urban areas as their slaves.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 2^nd, 2021.