KARACHI: The Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi planned protests against long-hours electricity loadshedding and ‘anti-people’ budget for fiscal year 2024-25 budget on Thursday (tomorrow) and on Sunday.
JI Karachi Chief Munem Zafar announced the protests at a seminar held at Idara Noor-e-Haq. A large number of trade leaders and party leaders attended the seminar.
According to Zafar, the protest will stage in Saddr on Thursday (today) and Liaquatabad on Sunday.
Zafar stated that the country was in deep social unrest due to poor economic policies, which had triggered historic levels of inflation. He warned that those suffering the most from the growing cost of living will resort to drastic actions.
The JI leader criticized the government’s economic policies as reflected in the new budget proposals, saying they have devastated traders, industrialists, exporters, and the salaried class alike.
He claimed the tax system widely favors the rich while squeezing the poor and middle class, with the government primarily focused on collecting taxes from salaried individuals, amounting to Rs360 billion, while only collecting Rs4 billion from large landowners.
The JI leader censured the coalition government for providing an Rs174 billion subsidy to K-Electric, which he referred to as the “murderer electric”, stating that the public’s daily life has been disrupted by higher fuel, water, and electricity costs.
He added that the government has ended subsidies of Rs3,000 billion on essential items like flour, pulses, milk, and medicines, which will further exacerbate the economic problems of the poor.
Zafar also criticized the government for increasing the spending on the President’s House and Prime Minister’s House by 30% in the next fiscal year, allocating Rs17500 billion.
On the occasion, Karachi Tajir Ittehad President Atiq Mir expressed that IMF was dictating the country’s economic policies, claiming the fund had already ruined 70 economies of different countries of the world and now was aiming to fail Pakistan’s economy.
