KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Chief, Monem Zafar Khan has announced a “Karachi Rights March” to voice public outrage and jolt the Sindh government over the city’s worsening civic mess laid bare by the latest downpour.
The match will start off from Karachi Press Club to the Sindh Chief Minister House on August 31; Monem Zafar told a news conference on Tuesday at party headquarters - Idara Noor-e-Haq, promising to jolt the PPP’s Sindh government to shed its indifference to the civic crisis.
The JI Chief appealed to all sections of society; students, labourers, engineers, doctors, the salaried class, traders and industrialists to join the march on Sunday and raise their voice for Karachi’s rights. He said the recent monsoon rains caused a near collapse of the city’s already weak and unstable civic infrastructure, while the government’s unclear and indifferent approach left the public to deal with the problems on their own.
Monem Zafar said that Karachi, the economic epicentre of the country, has been battered by multiple civic breakdowns, especially in the aftermath of the recent rains.
He pointed out that sewerage lines were choked, roads broken, and already fragile infrastructure further damaged, while on the day of rainfall traffic police, rescue teams, PDMA, NDMA and other state departments were nowhere to be seen. “Karachi has been left to suffer alone,” he remarked, highlighting the plight of Shershah, Ghani Chowrangi, Urdu Bazaar and several other neighbourhoods where stagnant water has created misery for residents. Jahangir Road, he said, has been ruined for years, while the Red Line Project has turned into a nightmare for citizens instead of a relief.
The JI leader also referred to Monday’s tragic incident in which three members of the same family were killed when a bus ran over them at Drigh Road underpass. He said the water supply situation was equally grim. “Half the city remains water-starved, with many localities in district Kemari, West and SITE having no supply for a long time. The new Hub canal developed cracks even before its inauguration, and in water-scarce areas people are forced to buy a tanker for Rs 7,500 instead of its original price of Rs2,500,” he said.
Monem Zafar added that the K-IV water supply project has been pushed to the back burner, while doctors at KMC’s Abbasi Hospital have not received salaries for the last four months. Similarly, he noted, the Karimabad underpass has been under construction for two years with no deadline in sight, while most other development works across the city are at a standstill. He strongly criticized K-Electric, saying the power utility had “failed in generation, distribution and transmission” and was only adding insult to injury for the citizens.
On the occasion, he demanded that the federal government release Rs500 billion development grant for Karachi, while urging the Sindh government to allocate Rs2 billion for each town in the metropolis.
Highlighting that August 26 marks the foundation day of Jamaat-e-Islami, Monem Zafar said the party has always struggled for a peaceful and prosperous Pakistan on the model of Madina, and vowed to continue this struggle with full commitment.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025