LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has dismissed government claims of economic improvement as a `boast disconnected from reality`.

`Commodity prices are beyond the reach of the average person, unemployment is on the rise, and the costs of petrol, gas, and electricity are increasing. I am astonished by the prime minister`s present ations claiming progress, he told apress conference here on Monday.

Rehman said that the economy cannot be repaired unless the government offers substantialrelief to the public regarding electricity bills. He said that the government must abolish unjust and expensive agreements with the independent power producers (IPPs).

He said that the country is paying billions of rupees to IPPs in capacity charges.

`Pay them only for what they produce, and redirect the funds owed to a select few elites towards public relief,` he said.

Rehman said that many IPPs are linked to military-affiliated institutions and ruling families, urging them to withdraw from these agreements in the interest of the public and the state. He alsocalledforanend tothepetroleum levy and for lowering petrolprices to align with international market rates.

Mr Rehman rejected the privatisation of national entities, lamenting that successive governments have first undermined profitable organizations and are now intent on selling them off.

He announced that Jamaat-eIslami would launch a movement against the transfer of 14,000 schools in Punjab to NGOs and would support teachers opposing this decision through legal means.

Furthermore, he pledged that JI would challenge the 26th constitutional amendment in the Supreme Court, criticising rumours about a potential 27th amendment as distractions aimedat diverting public attention from the previous amendment, which he said sought to undermine the judiciary.

He condemned remarks made by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz regarding fostering relations with India. He stated that friendship with India at the expense of Kashmiri lives and the Kashmir issue is unacceptable.

`Those advocating friendship with India should urge New Delhi to withdraw its nearly one million troops from occupied Kashmir, allowing the people to exercise their right to self-determination, he said.