LAHORE : Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Central Ameer Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman addressed workers at a sit-in at Charing Cross Chowk on Mall Road, Lahore, on Saturday, announcing a nationwide strike on September 3 and vowing to march on Islamabad if demands are not met.
Addressing a large gathering of party workers, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman urged them to keep their resolve firm, emphasizing that they were sitting with the case of 250 million Pakistanis. “The workers sitting on the sit-in should keep their resolve firm, they are sitting with the case of 250 million people,” he said.
The JI chief leveled sharp criticism over the recent PIMS Hospital fire tragedy, questioning the Health Minister about the absence of a fire alarm system and the hospital staff’s emergency response. “We ask the Health Minister why there is no fire alarm in PIMS Hospital. What did the hospital staff do in case of emergency?” he asked. He dismissed the suspension of the hospital secretary as insufficient, stating, “It is not enough to suspend the secretary in the PIMS Hospital incident.”
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman also launched a scathing attack on the Punjab government, alleging that Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif had sold 11,000 schools and hundreds of health units in the province. He further accused national leaders of insulting the public mandate and declared, “National criminals have insulted the mandate of the people, now they are killing our children.”
The JI chief announced that the party would hold a nationwide strike on September 3, calling upon youth, traders, and the entire nation to make it successful. He stressed the need for a peaceful protest, stating, “There should be peace during our strike.”
He outlined two key demands: the immediate abolition of the levy on petroleum products and the closure of Independent Power Producers (IPP) companies. “Every section, including traders and industrialists, is worried about expensive electricity. Both our demands are legitimate,” he asserted.
Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman warned that the government would have to concede to public pressure, stating that the upcoming movement would be unstoppable. “When the workers, farmers, students and lawyers of Punjab come out, they will not be taken care of. The government will have to accept the public demands and back down,” he declared. He further announced that following the nationwide strike, he would call for an Islamabad march to escalate the pressure on the federal government.
