Islamabad: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday announced a nationwide strike the week after Rabi-ul-Awwal 12 if the government failed to abolish the petroleum levy, warning that the party would expand its ongoing sit-ins into a countrywide protest movement.
Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the strike would include a wheel-jam and shutter-down, while the party would also establish protest camps across the country in support of its campaign. He said JI could also march on Islamabad on foot if the government failed to respond to its demands.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said he would address the sit-in in Lahore on Thursday, while a public gathering would be held at the Karachi protest venue on Friday. JI's Vice Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Farasat Shah, Islamabad Emir Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi were present at the press conference.
The JI chief said inflation had severely affected ordinary citizens, while the 'Form 47 rulers' had failed to deliver basic services. He described the petroleum levy as an unjustified 'extortionary tax', saying consumers were paying around Rs80 per litre under the levy.
According to him, the levy was originally introduced to finance the upgrading of Pakistan's oil refineries. However, he said, the government had collected more than Rs8 trillion from consumers under the levy while spending less than Rs100 billion on refinery upgrades.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said JI sit-ins in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were attracting increasing numbers of people, including traders, religious scholars, youth and civil society members. The protests, he said, had evolved into a platform for raising wider public grievances.
'We want relief for the nation. The abolition of the levy is not a matter of our ego; it is a matter concerning the people, ' he said, urging citizens to support the campaign.
Recalling JI's previous campaign against independent power producers (IPPs), Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said party workers had been stopped from entering Islamabad and subjected to tear-gas shelling before they established a sit-in in Rawalpindi. He said the government subsequently negotiated with JI, five IPPs were shut down and new agreements were signed with others, which he said saved the national exchequer Rs3. 36 trillion.
He said 73 IPPs still needed to be reviewed and argued that meaningful negotiations with them could substantially reduce electricity prices within the next 12 to 18 months. He said that IPPs were being paid even for electricity not generated, shifting the cost onto consumers.
The JI emir criticised what he called the excessive privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite while low-income citizens faced rising taxes and living costs. Referring to the political elite as 'badmashiya' rather than an elite, he said the burden of their expenditures was being borne by ordinary Pakistanis.
He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to reduce petrol and diesel prices by Rs130 rather than Rs30, arguing that the government should pass the full benefit to consumers.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said Pakistan's total debt had risen to Rs98 trillion and called on the government to honour its commitments regarding the elimination of interest-based financing. He said reducing interest payments would help ease the country's debt burden.
He also criticised the power tariff structure, saying consumers continued to face excessive electricity bills while the government relied on additional charges to raise revenue. He questioned why the public should bear the cost when the Federal Board of Revenue's 25, 000 employees failed to meet their targets.
Calling for austerity, he proposed that government vehicles should have engine capacities of no more than 1, 300cc. He said corruption and unnecessary taxation must be eliminated.
Turning to provincial governance, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the PPP damaged Sindh and added the PML-N had ruled Punjab for nearly four decades without resolving the province's structural problems. He said poverty had increased significantly in Punjab.
He also criticised Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's education policy, saying that 11, 000 schools had been outsourced. 'If you cannot run the education system, this is your failure, ' he said.
Addressing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he questioned the government's priorities, saying it was unfair to impose the petroleum levy on ordinary citizens while allocating Rs11 billion for what he described as expenditure benefiting the prime minister's niece.
On a question about negotiations, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said JI would not participate in government briefings and instead wanted the rulers to come to the protesters and engage directly with them.
He also demanded the release of PTI founder Imran Khan and all political prisoners. He described restricting medical treatment for Imran Khan as 'fascism' and called for him to be provided with all necessary healthcare facilities.