Islamabad:Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has strongly rejected the budget, terming it an anti-people document prepared entirely on the dictates of the IMF.
Addressing a high-profile press conference in the federal capital on Sunday, the JI chief warned that the party will announce a in next two days if immediate relief is not provided to the masses.
Senior party leadership, including Vice Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Firasat Shah, Emir JI Islamabad Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa and Secretary Information Shakil Ahmed Turabi were also present on the occasion.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman highlighted that national debt has skyrocketed to 85 trillion rupees, with an annual interest payment liability reaching 800 billion rupees. He criticized the government for treating the budget as a mere game of shuffling figures without understanding the ground realities of the impoverished public. He warned that this cruel economic system requires a massive public resistance movement and stated that JI will actively mobilize the youth for this struggle. If the government fails to provide relief, the party intends to launch a countrywide movement, which will include shutting down major highways.
To revive the struggling industrial sector and support the common man, the JI Chief put forward immediate demands for the economic recovery. He demanded that the government must immediately scrap the petroleum levy, as the objectives for which it was originally introduced are not being met. Furthermore, he stated that electricity rates for the industrial sector must be fixed at 9 cents per unit to ensure economic productivity, and questioned the absolute lack of measures in the budget to reduce the crushing burden of capacity payments to Independent Power Producers. In terms of state austerity, the JI Chief demanded an immediate ban on official vehicles exceeding 1300cc across all state departments, stressing that Supreme Court judges, military generals, and the ruling political elite must take the lead in voluntarily reducing their privileges.
The Emir also called out the complete neglect of the agricultural sector, noting that skyrocketing prices of fertilizers, pesticides, and seeds have pushed farmers to the brink of ruin. He said that institutional corruption within the Federal Board of Revenue accounts for an annual leakage of 1.2 to 1.3 trillion rupees, and instead of plugging these loopholes, the government is overburdening honest taxpayers. Commenting on so-called social safety nets, he observed that the Benazir Income Support Programme is mounting poverty rather than its eradication, pointing out that Punjab has witnessed the sharpest rise in poverty levels.
The JI Chief heavily criticized the mere 0.8 percent allocation for the education sector, revealing that over 10 million children remain out of school in Punjab alone, while the provincial government continues to privatize public schools and health centers. Dismissing the budget's youth initiatives, he called the laptop distribution schemes a mere eyeshow case devoid of concrete steps for the information technology sector. He highlighted that while poverty has risen by 8 percent, public salaries were only increased by a meager 7 percent.
Taking a swipe at the political status quo, he remarked that the same elite has ruled the country under an exploitative system for 79 years. He mocked the ongoing political friction between the ruling coalition parties as shadow boxing meant to deceive the public, adding that Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari deliberately omits how his own party benefited from the controversial Form 47 mandates in Karachi while criticizing it in Gilgit-Baltistan. He also reminded the government of its constitutional obligation to eliminate usury by December 31, 2026, as per the 26th Constitutional Amendment.
Expressing deep concern over the volatile situation in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman stated that the public unrest is a reaction to long-ignored structural grievances and the ongoing perception of manufactured political outcomes across the country. He emphasized that neither violent protests nor the state's use of force is a viable solution. Consequently, he offered Jamaat-e-Islami's services as an unbiased mediator to bridge the gap between the Joint Action Committee and the government. He announced that he would personally contact the leadership of both the Pakistani and Azad Kashmir governments, as well as the Joint Action Committee leadership, to facilitate a peaceful resolution. Concluding his address, he reiterated that the vast majority of Kashmiris, both in Azad and Indian-occupied regions, remain firmly pro-Pakistan, and the entire Pakistani nation stands as a permanent pillar of support for the Kashmiri cause.