Islamabad: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has warned that the JI will launch a nationwide wheel-jam strike if the government delays approving public demands for economic relief.

Addressing a news conference in Islamabad alongside JI Vice Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam and Islamabad Emir Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa, the JI chief stated that formal negotiations with the government would begin on Monday, while sit-in protests across the country will continue simultaneously.

Severe criticism was leveled at the current administration and bureaucracy, which the JI chief described as an unconstitutional 'Form-47 arrangement" imposing the burden of its inefficiency and extravagances on the public through heavy taxation. Highlighting that JI's protests have completed 21 days with sit-ins active at dozens of locations, including 20 sites in Balochistan and Swat, he maintained that public pressure forced electricity prices down by Rs 10-12 per unit, saved the national exchequer Rs 4,300 billion in IPP negotiations, and prevented petrol prices from surging higher.

Addressing the national economic crisis, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman noted that Pakistan's total debt has reached Rs 110,000 billion, with annual interest payments standing at Rs 8,000 billion. He argued that a 3 percent cut in the central bank's policy rate would eliminate the need for the petroleum levy altogether. Criticizing systemic corruption, he pointed out Rs 1,300 billion in annual losses due to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) incompetence and condemned ongoing payments to re-gasification plants even when LNG is not supplied.

The JI chief also drew attention to governance failures in social sectors, citing recent incidents at PIMS Hospital and a 50 percent failure rate in Punjab's 9th-grade exams. Politically, he criticized the PPP for damaging democracy through compromises, labelled the MQM an opportunistic entity, and noted that unaddressed grievances drive Karachi residents to demand a separate province.

Announcing future plans, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman stated that JI will launch a signature campaign targeting 50 million citizens to push for structural relief, local body governance, and a reduction in bread prices to Rs 10. Reaffirming support for peaceful democratic protests, including those by the PTI, he vowed that JI would keep up public pressure until concrete economic relief is delivered.