Assigning responsibility: JI to observe ‘black day’ on Friday

Says party would stage protests in the city after Friday prayers against the inefficiency of K-Electric

KARACHI:

Holding K-Electric (KE) and the provincial and federal government responsible for the mounting death toll of the heatwave that has gripped Karachi over the last week, Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi ameer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has announced Friday as a 'black day'.

"KE had promised to increase its capacity in the holy month of Ramazan but it did not do so," Rehman claimed while talking to The Express Tribune, alleging that the KE workers were mostly Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Peoples Party workers who misbehaved with the residents who complained about power outages.

He said that the party would stage protests in the city after Friday prayers against the inefficiency of the power utility, because of which, according to him, hundreds of lives had been lost.

"If the provincial government was performing well, the health facilities would have been much better," he added, saying that JI's MNAs would raise the issue in the National Assembly. "There are no beds in Karachi's government hospitals and the city has no place to bury its dead residents."

JI ameer Sirajul Haq will visit the metropolis on Friday to observe the black day. The party has also invited leaders from other political parties, technocrats and members of the business community to join its protest.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2015.