Government has issued crackdown warning on Islamabad sit-in of the Jamaat-e-Islami scheduled to be held tomorrow, imposing Section 144 in the federal capital.
It is also considering arrest of the JI Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman ahead of the protest. Section-144 has already been imposed in Punjab, banning the public gathering.
Islamabad and Punjab administration have asked the JI to postpone its sit-in but Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman has rejected it. He believed holding peaceful protest is constitutional and democratic right of every individual and political organization in the country.
“We will enter in Islamabad and hold sit-in at D-Chowk at any cost. No one can stop us exercising our democratic right,” he said while talking to journalists in Gujranwala.
He warned the government against creating hurdles in the way of the sit-in, saying the protest demonstrations would spread across the country in case the government tried to stop and arrest the peaceful protestors.
He extended invitation to the political parties to be the part of the protest for the rights of the people.
The JI is holding sit-in in Islamabad against the increase in electricity tariff and imposition of taxes on salaried class and audible items in recent budget.
Rehman claimed the government lacks mandate to decide on key matters as it came to power through rigging and on the basis of Form-47. He said the fake government is imposing anti-people economic agenda of the IMF.
The JI Emir is also vocal critic of IPPs agreements which he said are unfair and against the public interest.
He said the public is paying billions of rupees in term of capacity charges to the owners of the IPPs.
He claimed the majority of the owners are sitting in the government. “Government must review the agreements with the IPPs” is included in the charter of demands forwarded by the JI before the sit-in protest.
Rehman demanded the ruling elite surrender their luxuries on the state expenses and provide basis facilities to the masses.
