JI leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. PHOTO: FILE
RAWALPINDI:
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday denounced the Punjab Local Government Act as a “black law”, alleging that new legislation was being crafted to facilitate horse-trading and entrench elite control over power and resources.
Addressing participants of a JI sit-in on Liaquat Road against the Punjab Local Government Act, the party emir said that state-sponsored publicity campaigns featuring “the king and queen” were being funded through taxpayers’ money, while ordinary citizens continued to suffer from rising taxes and shrinking public services.
He asked the protesters whether they were prepared to lay siege to the Punjab Assembly and announced that he would expose what he called the “facade of development projects” over the next two days.
He also announced that a nationwide public referendum would be held on January 15.
Despite rainfall, Hafiz Naeem praised participants for turning out, recalling that Jamaat-e-Islami had staged a 14-day sit-in last year and asking whether they were ready to do so again.
He alleged that forces produced through “Form 47” had been installed in power by the establishment, claiming that leaders, including Nawaz Sharif, had lost elections.
“If they are champions, let them produce the original forms,” he said, adding that those sitting in assemblies had not genuinely won elections but had been imposed.
He said Pakistan would have to wage a long struggle for constitutional supremacy, noting that both PTI and PML-N governments had failed to hold local government elections for the past six years.
Decrying dynastic politics, he said a handful of families, including “Chaudhrys” and “waderas” in Punjab and the Zardari family in Sindh, wanted to retain power indefinitely, amassing wealth through large projects and kickbacks. He argued that bureaucracy should function under elected local governments, rather than concentrating authority in unelected hands, adding that a single CSS-qualified officer often dominated multiple administrative posts.
Referring to federal minister Ahsan Iqbal’s statement that 26.2 million children were out of school, Hafiz Naeem said the figure was based on a three-year-old report, accusing the government of outsourcing schools instead of fixing governance failures.
He also criticised the outsourcing of Basic Health Units in Punjab, alleging that services were being privatised while photographs of Maryam Nawaz were being displayed. Punjab should be compared with its own potential rather than with Sindh, he added.
He further said new taxes were being imposed on the poor at a time when global petrol prices were at a five-year low, accusing the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) itself of corruption. Calling for structural reform, he said deputy commissioners should be subordinate to elected mayors.
He further said Jamaat-e-Islami had approached the courts and that a hearing was scheduled for the following day, though he lamented that the current judicial system was failing to deliver justice.
