KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman on Saturday delivered a fiery address to protesters, declaring that the people of Karachi would lead a nationwide struggle against the government’s policies while levelling sharp criticism at the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and the ruling elite.
Addressing a large gathering at the party’s ongoing sit-in, Hafiz Naeem said the people of this city must lead the entire Pakistan and fight the case of the entire nation together.
The JI chief launched a blistering attack on the PPP leadership, asserting that the “Zardari gang” had failed to bring Benazir Bhutto’s killers to justice to date. “They are a royal family, they are not capable of anything else,” he said, warning that the MQM and the PPP should not come in the same boat, and that a great struggle should be waged against all of them.
Hafiz Naeem also took aim at the federal government’s taxation policies, warning that if “petrol bombs” continued to be dropped on the public in the form of levies, nothing would be left in the hands of the people. He described the petroleum levy as an “enmity against the people,” claiming that one and a half billion rupees were being collected from workers, farmers, and students every day. “These are not elites but thugs,” he asserted.
The JI Emir accused the government of lying to the nation in agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Referring to the Prime Minister’s aides who say the levy cannot be ended, Hafiz Naeem declared: “You will not end the levy, we will not end the sit-in”.
Drawing attention to the contrast between public suffering and elite extravagance, he said that while inflation was increasing, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz bought a plane worth Rs11 billion. “Students and the public are bearing its burden,” he said.
Hafiz Naeem announced that JI would set up protest camps all over Pakistan. In Karachi, screens would be installed at squares and intersections to connect people with the sit-in. “Youth and elders, a big struggle is welcoming you,” he said, urging the nation to join the movement.
