KARACHI: Central Chief of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Sunday termed provincial governments the main “obstacle” to empowering the local government (LG) system, saying that Article 140-A of the Constitution, which mandates the devolution of powers, is being openly violated across all provinces due to “politics and corruption”. He expressed these views while addressing at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, the JI Karachi headquarters. Criticising the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Hafiz Naeem said their relationship has always been driven by mutual interests, while their apparent conflicts are nothing more than staged dramas to mislead the public. He said the people have completely rejected both parties, adding that PPP’s frustration over losing public support is being reflected in its hostile attitude towards Karachi. He alleged that the PPP-led Sindh government has already consumed Rs 3,360 billion belonging to Karachi and questioned where the city’s reduced 15 to 20 percent share under the Octroi and Zila Tax (OZT) was being spent, noting the absence of any accountability. Referring to Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah’s claims about Bilawal Bhutto’s vision, Hafiz Naeem asked whether that vision was to turn Karachi into Mohenjo-daro. He said that inaugurating a few buses would never resolve the city’s deep-rooted transport problems. He further stated that selling profitable national institutions would not solve economic issues and demanded answers as to why such institutions were being sold. He added that the situation had deteriorated to the point where the government was now attempting to rid itself of public schools as well. He alleged that if the funds and development projects of the Punjab government were properly scrutinised, corruption worth thousands of billions of rupees would be exposed, while the overall condition of Sindh was already extremely alarming. Speaking on Punjab, Hafiz Naeem said that the last local government elections there were held in 2012 and that even a metropolitan city like Lahore had been reduced to the status of a town. He criticised the system in which chairmen and vice-chairmen would not be directly elected by the people and said that even councillor elections were being turned into a marketplace. He said that local government elections in Balochistan, Quetta, Punjab and Islamabad had been postponed. Jamaat-e-Islami, he announced, would launch a public referendum in Punjab from January 15, while strong protests were continuing against what he termed the oppressive local government act of the Punjab government. Hafiz Naeem said Pakistan’s electoral system had lost transparency and that proportional representation did not exist under the current framework. He regretted that no major political party was raising its voice for meaningful electoral reforms. Elections, he said, had become a means of occupation, citing the seizure of the Karachi mayoralty as an example. He warned that erosion of public trust in democracy could have dangerous consequences and stressed that accepting the people’s mandate was essential to overcoming national crises. Highlighting Karachi’s infrastructure issues, he said the K-IV water project had been badly distorted and its capacity reduced to the extent that, even if completed, it would meet only 40 percent of the city’s needs. He added that since 2012, the Karachi Circular Railway had been inaugurated multiple times, yet not a single train had become operational, while the S-III project had remained incomplete for 18 years. He held the mayor directly responsible for all failures of the water corporation and said the mayor should instead be thankful for the work being carried out by Jamaat-e-Islami town chairmen. He said the people of Karachi were questioning how long their children would continue to fall into open sewers. On international issues, Hafiz Naeem strongly condemned what he described as US terrorism against Venezuela, alleging that the United States had violated international law by attacking the residence of the Venezuelan president and his wife. He said the US was heading towards decline and that strong reactions against President Donald Trump were emerging within America itself. However, he regretted that Pakistan’s government had failed to take a clear stance on what he termed open aggression. He said it was contradictory that, on one hand, Pakistan’s prime minister repeatedly nominated the US president for the Nobel Prize, while on the other, the United States continued to interfere in the internal affairs of countries around the world. Referring to Gaza, Naeem said Israel had martyred more than 80,000 Palestinians over the past two years, with full US patronage, including billions of dollars’ worth of weapons. He said all claims of democracy and human rights had been buried in Gaza and called on the entire world to rise against imperialist powers. He stressed that Pakistan’s army should under no circumstances be sent to Gaza, warning that if this were to happen, the army would not face Israel but the fighters of Hamas, which he said would be unacceptable. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026