Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday warned that his party will march to Islamabad in mid-November if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif does not abolish the petroleum levy or otherwise give people clear relief.
Addressing a press conference, Rehman said JI had stayed patient because of the wider international situation, then added that the responsible course now was to turn “aggressive.” He said that if the prime minister neither scraps the levy nor takes steps to ease the burden, the party will move on the capital “with full force” in mid-November.
What JI is demanding
For more than two months, JI has pressed the federal government to remove fuel levies, including Rs114 per litre on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel. The party argues that pump prices have climbed sharply as Middle East conflicts have pushed global oil costs since March. Rehman also said the levy “has nothing [to] do with petrol’s price,” and urged the government to accept the public’s hardship and act before pressure rises further.
He said federal ministers have contacted JI repeatedly. According to him, Vice Emir Liaquat Baloch told them that talks will lead nowhere until something tangible is offered. Rehman still acknowledged government assurances that work is under way on the issue and that options would be weighed ahead of a meeting with the prime minister. He stressed that JI has not refused a meeting, but does not want one staged only as a political event, and that the party’s written demands are already on the table.
Contacts, talks and the September package
A day before Rehman’s warning, JI said Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Rana Sanaullah had reached Liaquat Baloch, and that a meeting between the JI chief and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was expected within the “next two days.”
Rehman criticised the government’s September relief scheme for motorcycle, auto-rickshaw and up-to-800cc vehicle users, which he linked to earlier JI protests in 42 cities. Under that scheme, two- and three-wheelers were to get Rs100 per litre on a monthly quota of 20 litres, and small cars up to 800cc Rs100 per litre on 30 litres a month, meant to ease the impact of higher global oil prices. He said the package still left out many motorcyclists, car owners and public transport, and did nothing about grocery and goods prices driven up by diesel costs.
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.
- 3 September: The government and JI agreed to form committees to recommend ways to cut the levies.
- 20 September: JI launched a protest march towards Islamabad and warned that failure to abolish the levy could widen into a push to oust the government.
- 22 September: Rehman said the long march—then in Multan—was postponed after the prime minister sought a meeting on the issues.
- Last week: JI said it would hold talks on abolishing the levy, alleged earlier that the government had not followed up on the planned Rehman–Shehbaz meeting, and, through Liaquat Baloch, kept calling for countrywide protests.
- Monday: Rehman set a mid-November Islamabad march if the levy is not abolished or relief is not delivered.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Jamaat-e-Islami ne kaha hai ke agar petroleum levy nahi hatai gayi to woh mid-November mein Islamabad march karegi. Petrol par levy ab Rs114 aur diesel par Rs100 per litre batayi gayi hai. Hukumat se mulaqat ki baat chal rahi hai, lekin party tangible imdad maang rahi hai. Ordinary logon ke liye sawal yeh hai ke fuel aur rozmarra ki qeematain kam hongi ya nahi.
