KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Thursday presented a three-year performance report of its nine towns with central chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman as the chief guest, who questioned the government of its Rs3,360 billion uplift budget amid deteriorating urban infrastructure.
The report, titled “Journey of Construction, Development” was unveiled at a ceremony held at a local hotel, said the nine JI-run towns, despite receiving no development funds from the PPP-led provincial government, restored 234 parks, revived 42 playgrounds, rebuilt 73 schools and improved their condition, and made 19 dispensaries functional. They also constructed 10.56 million square feet of roads and streets, installed more than 150,000 streetlights and supplied drinking water to about 130,000 households.
All of this was done from the towns’ own resources. The towns also spent over Rs1 billion on sewerage and water, although this work does not fall under their responsibility. JI-led town administrations further cleared Rs1.25 billion in outstanding liabilities owed to municipal employees. The party vowed that 2027 would be an even better year of construction and development.
JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar said the Taleem Card initiative, launched in Gulberg Town and worth Rs10,000 per card, would now be expanded to benefit 50,000 children across all nine towns. The party has also announced 2,000 university scholarships and 10 new buses for the University of Karachi to help students facing severe transport shortages.
Speaking at the event, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman defined the nine JI’s administered towns as model of the city, where people themselves felt change and improvement. He said JI’s local governance showed that structural administrative empowerment was the key to solving Karachi’s chronic problems.
He repeated his criticism of the country’s political and administrative setup and said Karachi’s true population exceeds 35 million but has been systematically undercounted to deny the city its rightful political weight. If the city were counted properly, he argued, the Chief Minister of Sindh would naturally be elected from its urban electorate. He said there would be no need for new provinces if Karachi’s population were counted in full. He urged Karachiites not to let themselves be divided along ethnic lines, saying the city belongs equally to Pashtuns, Sindhis and Seraikis as well as Muhajirs.
Hafiz Naeem asked where the Rs3,360 billion provincial development budget of the past 15 years had been spent, pointing out that Karachi received only a fraction of its fair share. He also said the city’s share in the Octroi Zila Tax (OZT) was cut from 76 percent to 18 percent under PPP rule, without any public accountability.
Pointing to gerrymandering, he said the Union Committees won by JI represent an average population of 45,000 residents, compared with just 15,000 in those held by the PPP. He accused both the PPP and MQM of being forcibly imposed on the city despite widespread public rejection. He said the mandate of Karachi’s citizens was trampled during the local body elections so that towns could be occupied and the mayoral mandate snatched.
Hafiz Naeem criticized the mismanagement crippling the city’s core infrastructure. He said the K-IV water supply project, started during the tenure of former mayor Naimatullah Khan, saw its cost rise from Rs25 billion to Rs172 billion due to chronic delays. Its capacity has been reduced, and there is no completion in sight over the next three years. The Green Line mass transit project remains incomplete, he said, while construction of the Red Line has caused continuous public misery due to design flaws. The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) remains non-functional despite nearly a dozen ceremonial inaugurations over the years.
Criticizing the civil and military bureaucracy, he said past leaders had pledged to dismantle corrupt systems, but those very mechanisms were ultimately expanded all the way to Islamabad. He demanded that those responsible for introducing political dysfunction into Karachi take ownership and fix it. Criticizing the status quo without actively dismantling it, he warned, amounts to tacit collusion.
Concluding his address, Hafiz Naeem said that under global standards of local governance, policing and primary education come under municipal authority, whereas local bodies in Pakistan are stripped of power and at the mercy of provincial administrations. He said Karachi’s 35 million residents cannot be thrown into the sea, nor can all its youth leave the country. He called on citizens to struggle actively, defend their mandate, and look toward 2027 as an even greater benchmark year for JI’s local development model.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026