JI chief lashes out at ‘feudal’ PPP leadership

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman on Monday sharply criticised the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), accusing it of maintaining a feudal structure within the party while claiming to stand for democratic values.

Speaking at a press conference at the Noor Haq Institute, Naeem challenged PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to make public the wages paid to farm workers employed on his family’s agricultural lands in Sindh. He said the Sindh government had fixed the minimum wage at Rs43,000 and questioned whether labourers on the Bhutto-Zardari family’s estates were being paid accordingly.

He said PPP workers who had spent decades with the party were denied status, while influence remained concentrated within one family. Referring to the treatment of agricultural workers, he alleged that they were being underpaid and reduced to dependency.

Naeem also called on the government to bring petrol prices down to Rs225 per litre and remove the petroleum levy without delay. He described the levy as a heavy burden on ordinary citizens, particularly motorcyclists, and said people already struggling with taxes could not absorb further indirect charges.

He further demanded an end to high taxation in electricity bills and called for the termination of agreements with Independent Power Producers (IPPs). The JI chief said his party would soon ask young people across the country to stage protests against the levy by blocking major highways with their motorcycles.

Criticism of elections, budget and Sindh governance

Turning to electoral politics, Naeem said the recent local government elections in Karachi showed, in his view, the PPP’s unwillingness to respect democratic mandates. He alleged that JI’s mandate had been taken away in the city’s local body elections and that another mayor had been imposed instead.

He also criticised the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), saying the party had failed to secure meaningful gains for Karachi over four decades. He further alleged that individuals who could not win even a single polling station were later awarded dozens of seats.

On the federal budget, Naeem said it had offered no meaningful relief to private-sector employees, labourers or the wider public. He said lawmakers had received salary and benefit increases of 300 to 400 per cent, while millions working in the private sector had gone years without a raise. He also regretted that pensions for Employees’ Old-Age Benefits Institution workers had not been increased.

He criticised provincial governments for spending billions of rupees on advertisements instead of public welfare, and said Sindh’s administration had neglected both education and health.

Karachi infrastructure and public services

Naeem said universities were not receiving grants and referred to protests by teachers in Karachi. He also questioned the state of healthcare in interior Sindh, saying that if facilities there were sufficient, patients would not be travelling in large numbers to Karachi for treatment.

He objected to the installation of barriers on Jahangir Road and highlighted the poor condition of University Road. He said Karachi needed 15,000 buses, but only 150 had been added by the provincial government.

Foreign policy and economic system

On foreign affairs, the JI chief said the issue of Azad Kashmir should be resolved through dialogue rather than force, adding that 250 million Pakistanis stood with Kashmiris. He also urged the government to secure the recovery of Priya Kumari and the return of Pakistani citizens being held by Somali pirates.

Naeem condemned Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza and Lebanon and called on Pakistan and other Muslim countries to intervene. He also said the government had failed to end the interest-based banking system despite earlier commitments, and added that a substantial share of the budget was being consumed by servicing interest-based loans.

Referring to a recent speech by minority MPA Veeresh Kumar, he said the lawmaker had pointed out that the Holy Quran declares interest to be war against Allah and His Messenger. Naeem said it was regrettable that Pakistan’s economy continued to be based on interest.