PPP denying water to people over not voting for it, claims Naeem

The Jamaat-e-Islami has claimed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has been deliberately denying the fundamental need of water supply to the areas of Karachi whose residents rejected the PPP’s candidates in the last local government elections.

Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman lamented that during the PPP’s rule continuing for the past 15 years in Sindh, the party has completely failed to overcome the water crisis in the city.

Rehman blamed Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab for the allegedly unjust action of depriving the residents of North Karachi, New Karachi and Surjani Town of water supply by severing the legal water connections of these localities.

The JI leader said that the concerned citizens of Karachi have been facing severe hardships due to “unjust” water distribution and “exploitative” water tanker services whose operations continue “unchecked under official patronage”.

He announced that on Monday (today) the JI would hold protest demonstrations at 10 important intersections of the city against the “sheer inefficiency” of the provincial government in managing the water crisis in the city.

He said the JI would also hold a sit-in outside the head office of the Karachi Water & Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) on August 4 to protest against the water woes of the city’s people.

Rehman said that the mayor is under an obligation to tell the people why he has arbitrarily severed legal water connections of several residential localities in the city. “Why are the people of Karachi being punished for not voting for the PPP’s candidates?”

He said that the ruling PPP has completely failed to resolve the water problems of the city, adding that residents of several localities have been facing severe hardships because of the crisis.

He also said that after the completion of the K-III project, not one bulk water supply project has been constructed by the PPP’s provincial government.

He lamented that the water woes of Karachiites have multiplied due to the “undue” delay in the completion of the K-IV project. He claimed that the staff of the KWSC has been involved in the unjust distribution of water.

He said that raising the price of electricity and disconnecting water supply are serious crimes against the residents of the city.