Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday demanded the government to make ‘illegal’ agreements with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) public. Addressing the participants of the JI sit-in which entered the fourth day, he slammed the government for the suicides caused by exorbitant power bills. He lauded the participants for creating a history by coming in droves and showing immense courage to weather all storms during the sit-in. He claimed that no other party could become the true representative of 250 million people of Pakistan except the JI. Mr. Naeem criticized the government for creating hurdles for the JI women workers in Lahore, adding that it spoke of the government’s cowardice.

Taking the government to task over capacity payments to the IPPs, JI emir said that people were not supposed to pay the taxes included in the power bills, adding that we have put across our demand to lift the capacity charges on electricity bills. He also asked the government to conduct audit of all IPPs, adding that Rs2600 billion circular debt had taken a huge toll on people’s lives. He also demanded the government to take back facilities of fuel and electricity from the civil servants, lamenting that civil servants used 1300cc cars which was just limited to using 1000cc cars in former premier Junejo’s time. Speaking about petrol prices, he called for removing petroleum levy and adjusting petroleum products’ prices accordingly.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan