KARACHI: A large number of women and children participated in the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi’s sit-in on its fourth day, against the black law hitting the local government set up.

The party has been running a campaign against the law bulldozed by the PPP in the Sindh Assembly. The law was aimed at squeezing powers of local government set up in Sindh. It has taken away several institutions and authorities from the local government and handed them over to the provincial government in clear defiance of the constitution.

On Monday, a segment of the sit-in was designated for women. A large number of women from across the city as well as representatives of working women participated in the session.

JI Pakistan Women Wing General Secretary Durdana Siddiqui, her deputy Attia Nisar and other women leaders also attended the session.

Speaking on the occasion, JI Karachi chief Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman paid a rich tribute to the women for coming forward for the rights of themselves and others.

He said that the base of problems being faced by Karachiites are corruption and injustice.

The JI leader said that the party doesn’t believe in ethnic politics but the question still persists that why the megalopolis was deprived of mass transit system when other cities including Islamabad, Lahore, Multan and Peshawar developed the same facility by the funds generated by taxpayers in Karachi.

He added that 30 million people in Karachi deserve due rights and civic facilities and not fake announcements.

He said that the Sindh government has approached the JI leadership with requests to end the sit-in but it was made clear before representatives of the PPP government that the part was open for dialogue. However, the JI will not compromise on rights of citizens, he added.

Engr Naeem said that the JI decided to take the issue both on roads and in judiciary. A petition against the black law has already been filed in the Sindh High Court, he said.

He said that despite having majority in the assembly, the PPP has no right to make legislation against the constitution of the country.

Talking about the issues of women, he said that the PPP always chants the mantra of women rights but practically the government compelled the women in Sindh to work at factories under contract system, depriving them of their due rights otherwise.

He also talked about the transport and other issues being faced by women in Sindh, including Karachi.

The JI leader also talked about the violation of constitution by the Sindh government and nefarious role of other political parties when it comes to the rights of Karachiites.

He said that electoral system in this country and particularly Sindh is fake. He said that it doesn’t represent majority.

In the prevailing system, the individuals who can influence 5000 people play an important role in this set up and they always switch parties for their interests and parties like the PPP and the PTI use them for their political gains, he added.

Initially PPP and Bhutto had chanted slogans against feudalism but within a few years the PPP became a party of feudal lords, he said while talking about politics of the party.

Engr Naeem blasted the bubble of PPP’s democracy mantra. He recalled that PPP had defied the idea of democracy and didn’t launch a single candidate in the then East Pakistan. Practically the party admitted that majority didn’t like them but they opted to divide the country for their own greed for power, he said.

In the recent past when Karachi was in the clutches of MQM, the PPP didn’t launch candidates for elections in Liaquatabad, Landhi

and other strongholds of other parties, Engr Naeem said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021