The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) on Wednesday staged a sit-in in front of LESCO headquarters against massive increase in power tariff and inclusion of various taxes in electricity bills.
Led by JI Secretary General Ameerul Azim, a large number of people attended the protest demonstration and demanded the government withdraw all the taxes from electricity bills.
Azim announced the JI would hold sit-in in front of headquarters of all distribution companies in next phase of the ongoing protest movement. He said the JI would continue fight for the public rights in street, plead their case in courts and put it before the parliament.”
What was the justification of including GST, TV fee and income taxes in the electricity bills, he questioned, saying the government could no longer make the poor masses scape goats on the direction of the IMF. He demanded the rulers withdraw free electricity to their own bungalows, rest-houses and collect bills from bureaucracy and government servants instead of charging masses. He said the government had multiplied the miseries of the people in months.
JI Lahore chapter emir Zikrullah Mujahid also spoke on occasion.
During the peaceful protest, someone from inside the LESCO gate threw poisonous liquid on the participants, causing eye infections to dozens of people who were later shifted to Ganga Ram Hospital for treatment, according to JI spokesperson Qaisar Sharif.
JI secretary general demanded the LESCO handover the responsible to the police. He warned the administration that the JI would continue sit-in in case the culprits behind the incident were not arrested.
