Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman has said the party’s movement against inflation and the petroleum levy is gaining momentum and Multan is set to be the next stop of the train march, reported 24NewsHD TV.
On reaching Ghotki, city's JI Emir Tashkeel Siddiqui, along with party workers, welcomed the train march. JI workers raised slogans against the government at the railway station and demanded withdrawal of the additional levy imposed on petroleum products.
Addressing participants of the train march in Ghotki, Hafiz Naeem said the people of Pakistan were standing with the movement and that the government would be forced to reconsider its policies.
“We are fighting the case of 250 million Pakistanis,” Hafiz Naeem said, praising the people of Sindh for their participation in the campaign.
He said the JI was working to unite the people of Pakistan as one nation and would challenge what he described as a powerful ruling elite that, according to him, joined hands when it came to imposing burdens on the public.
Hafiz Naeem also criticized what he described as attempts to divide people along ethnic lines, saying Sindhis, Punjabis, Muhajirs, Baloch and Pashtuns should stand together.
Criticizing the Sindh government, the JI chief said the situation in Ghotki reflected what he described as poor governance in the province.
He claimed that one school in Ghotki had 21 students and 50 teachers, while people in Sindh continued to face difficulties in accessing clean drinking water.
Hafiz Naeem also alleged that the feudal system in Sindh had deprived farmers of their rights and claimed that both rural and urban areas were facing security challenges.
He said the JI’s struggle was aimed at providing a voice to people facing hardship and called for continued public mobilisation against the petroleum levy and rising costs.
The JI train march, which began from Karachi, is travelling towards Multan before the next stages of the protest movement towards Islamabad.