Jamaat-e-Islami (JI)  Ameer Hafiz Naeem on Tuesday cautioned the government against reneging on promises made with the JI at the end of the sit-in, adding that his party had started a countdown. The JI Ammer accused the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of abusing power. During a press conference at Karachi, JI emir said that the rulers were enjoying all the privileges while depriving the people of even the basic rights and bombarding them with endless taxes on everything. Rehman blamed the federal Board of Revenue (FBR) for being unable to collect taxes instead criticised the board for increase in the corruption, adding that as much as Rs1299 billions were being embezzled by the FBR ever since it was given powers equivalent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He asked the government to tell the nation about the nitty-gritty of the Pak-Iran Gas Pipeline. The JI emir avoided any comment on recent arrest of Lieutenant General retired Faiz Hameed’s arrest, citing it as army’s internal matter.

He lambasted the PPP government in Sindh for tampering election results in the local government elections held last year. JI's sit-in achieved its targets, claims Hafiz Naeem JI emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said that they have achieved the targets through its historical sit-in staged in Rawalpindi against the exorbitant electricity bills. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Friday, he said that the JI gave some time to the government to reconsider its policies pertaining to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). “We have not called off our sit-in. We just put it on hold for some days and gave time to the government,” JI emir said. He urged the government to cut its expenditures in order to avoid the JI’s sit-in in future. Hafiz Naeem added that the JI gave awareness to the people over the issues of exorbitant electricity bills and IPPs. “The joint committee of JI and government will review the electricity bills within a month,” he said. Earlier, the government and JI had reached an agreement pertaining to relief for the masses in electricity bills, reduction in taxes for the salaried class and reviewing the IPPs contracts.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan