Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s House on Tuesday over the party’s demand to scrap the petroleum levy. After the JI chief PM House talks, he told a press conference in Islamabad that the planned march to the capital against the levy will take place in mid-November and will not be delayed again.
What was discussed at PM House
Rehman said the meeting followed the premier’s earlier request that JI put off its Islamabad march. He stopped short of calling the outcome inconclusive. According to him, both sides agreed that relief should be broadened, but they disagreed on the “modalities” and “procedure”.
He summarised the gap plainly: JI wants the levy abolished outright, while the government speaks of moving towards that goal in phases. Asked about a reported offer to cut levies by Rs20–30, he said the party could not accept “peanuts” and would stick to its position.
Around 4pm, JI said Rehman had reached PM House with a delegation that included Deputy Emir Liaquat Baloch, Deputy Secretary General Syed Farasat Shah and JI Islamabad Emir Nasrullah Randhawa. He later said another party committee on the levy issue would include those three leaders.
March date and parallel talks
“We want to make it clear that we will not postpone our Islamabad march any longer. It will now take place in mid-November, and it certainly will take place,” the JI chief said. He added that the government should announce a relief package and a path to end what he called an “extortionate” levy before then, or face the prospect of protesters “sit[ting] on the road to talk”.
He said JI’s preparations for the march were already complete, that nationwide mobilisation would continue, and that negotiations with the government would run alongside that work. He also said the party had put forward alternatives to simply abolishing the levy and had comprehensive plans ready.
Rehman linked the levy fight to wider fiscal choices. He noted that successive governments had vowed not to take loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—the global lender that often backs Pakistan’s budget programmes—yet later entered IMF arrangements, and he urged the Centre to give people relief rather than, in his words, take “retribution for your incompetence from the nation”.
Timeline: what has happened so far
- 16 August: JI announced sit-ins in all provincial capitals against the petroleum levy and called a nationwide strike for 3 September.
- Early September: The Centre and JI agreed to form committees to recommend ways to reduce the levy, around the time JI had planned the strike.
- 20 September: JI launched a protest march towards Islamabad, warning that failure to scrap the levy could turn the protest into a push to remove the government.
- 22 September: Rehman said the long march—whose convoy had reached Multan—was being postponed at PM Shehbaz’s request, with an assurance of a meeting.
- Last week (party press release): JI alleged the government had made no further contact about that planned meeting.
- Monday: Rehman warned of a mid-November Islamabad march if the premier did not abolish the petroleum levy.
- Tuesday: The JI chief PM House meeting took place; afterwards he fixed mid-November for the march.
JI has pressed for more than two months for the Centre to abolish petroleum levies, saying fuel prices have risen sharply because of Middle East conflicts since March.
Aasan alfaaz mein
JI ke ameer Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman PM House gaye aur Wazir-e-Azam se petrol levy khatam karne ki baat ki. Meeting ke baad unhon ne kaha ke Islamabad march mid-November mein hogi, ab aur deri nahi. Hukumat phase by phase kami ki baat karti hai, JI poori levy khatam chahti hai. Aam logon ke liye matlab yeh hai ke fuel bill aur protest dono ki soorat-e-haal abhi clear nahi hui.
