JI to Hold Nationwide Sit-ins for Empowered Local Governments on December 21

JI to Hold Nationwide Sit-ins for Empowered Local Governments on December 21
Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman Condemns Media Curb, Calls for Devolution of Power to Grassroots
Lahore, December 18: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Thursday said the country is facing an acute governance crisis, with the economy and agriculture in decline, rising unemployment, and capital flight worsening the situation. He announced that Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) will hold nationwide sit-ins on Sunday, December 21, in support of an empowered local government system.
Addressing a press conference at Mansoorah , Rehman said the newly introduced local government law in Punjab has rendered the public powerless and promoted non-party-based elections, extending the culture of horse-trading from national and provincial assemblies down to the grassroots level. He said the future course of action would be announced after the sit-ins and vowed to further intensify the movement against the obsolete system and the ruling elite.
The JI chief strongly condemned the ban on advertisements of a major English-language media house, saying that the government was attempting to control media freedom through financial pressure. He reaffirmed Jamaat-e-Islami’s commitment to protecting independent media and journalists’ rights. He also condemned state violence against the sisters of the PTI founder and the termination of jobs of PASSCO employees.
Terming the incident involving an Indian minister forcibly unveiling a Muslim woman as heinous, Rehman urged the government and leaders of the Muslim world to raise a strong voice against the act.
He said that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment, powers were devolved to the provinces, and the next logical step was their transfer to the local level. However, he noted that no local government elections were held in Punjab for nearly a decade, calling the current Punjab Local Government Act a black stain on the system. He questioned the silence of other political parties on the issue.
Criticizing major political parties, he said the PPP has ruled Sindh for 17 years but failed to spend Rs3,360 billion allocated for Karachi’s development over the past 15 years. He added that despite PTI’s 12-year rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, real authority remains with the bureaucracy rather than the people. He also criticized the federal government for attempting to amend local government laws in Islamabad even after announcing the election schedule.
The JI Emir said national resources are controlled by a small elite comprising civil and military bureaucracy, a handful of politicians, capitalists, and feudal lords. He said Jamaat-e-Islami has decided to join hands with the public to free the country from the grip of this elite and the outdated system.
Highlighting economic concerns, he said the trade deficit is widening, unemployment is increasing, and capital is leaving the country, a situation also reflected in recent IMF reports. He said RLNG agreements caused losses of trillions of rupees to the national economy. He said the government meanwhile put ban on local gas production. He highlighted the lack of interest from major international companies in recent gas block auctions.
He said the current “PDM government“ destroyed agriculture, adding the sector has suffered a 600 percent decline over the past two to three years. He said prices of agricultural inputs such as fertilizers and pesticides are several times higher than in India, while farmers are not receiving fair prices for wheat and sugarcane, and the cotton crop remains in continuous crisis.
Referring to World Farmers’ Day, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said government advertisements and claims do not match ground realities, as both farmers and agriculture continue to suffer. He recalled that Jamaat-e-Islami had announced the reorganization of its “Change the System” movement at a recent public gathering and said the public awareness campaign would continue with full force.