Islamabad: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday challenged the petroleum levy in the Federal Constitutional Court, while simultaneously announcing a nationwide protest campaign against rising fuel prices and heavy taxation.

Addressing journalists outside the court in Islamabad, Jamaat-e-Islami Chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the party would continue its legal and public struggle against economic exploitation of ordinary citizens. He announced countrywide demonstrations on May 22 and warned that the party could also launch sit-ins, shutter-down strikes, a long march and road blockades after Eid if the government failed to withdraw the levy.

Accompanied by JI Islamabad Chief Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa, Advocate Imran Shafiq and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the government was collecting unjustified and excessive taxes through fuel prices while refusing to reduce the lavish expenditures of the ruling elite. He said that nearly Rs117 per litre was being charged as petroleum levy on petrol, while the cumulative burden of various taxes pushed the total taxation close to Rs150 per litre, almost 60 percent of the actual fuel price. 'The government keeps citing IMF conditions to justify the levy, but ignores repeated calls to cut elite privileges and unnecessary spending,' he said, criticizing extravagant state expenditures. He referred to the purchase of an aircraft by the Maryam Nawaz government and luxury vehicles for top officials, saying that ordinary citizens were being forced to bear the burden of economic mismanagement. The JI emir said successive governments protected influential groups from taxation, squ eezing salaried and lower-income classes. He questioned why large landowners and other sectors remained outside the tax net despite the presence of a massive tax machinery within the Federal Board of Revenue.

Hafiz Naeemur Rehman further criticized independent power producer agreements and RLNG re-gasification contracts, saying that billions of rupees had been paid under unfair arrangements at the expense of consumers already burdened by multiple electricity taxes. He maintained that opposition parties had failed to effectively raise public economic concerns, adding that Jamaat-e-Islami was the only political force consistently advocating for ordinary citizens.

Earlier, Advocate Imran Shafiq filed the constitutional petition on behalf of JI Emir, challenging both the petroleum levy and the newly introduced 'Climate Support Levy.' The petition argues that the petroleum levy has evolved beyond a limited regulatory surcharge and effectively functions as a tax imposed without proper parliamentary oversight. It contends that the levy is being administered through executive notifications and SROs instead of direct parliamentary approval, undermining constitutional principles, parliamentary supremacy and provincial autonomy.

According to the petition, the petroleum levy has reached historic levels and now constitutes around 42 to 43 percent of the ex-refinery price of petrol. It states that the federal government expects to collect approximately Rs1.47 trillion through the levy during fiscal year 2025-26, amounting to nearly 8.3 percent of the total federal budget. The plea also challenges provisions of the Finance Act 2025, particularly the removal of the legal cap on petroleum levy rates, arguing that parliament has effectively granted the executive unrestricted fiscal authority.

The petition further stated that although the government labels the charge as a 'levy,' it practically operates as a tax because it is compulsorily collected from the public without providing any specific service or direct benefit in return. JI Emir also challenged the Climate Support Levy, arguing that the government had introduced the charge in the name of environmental protection without establishing a dedicated climate fund, parliamentary oversight mechanism or transparent accountability structure to ensure the money would actually be spent on climate-related initiatives.

The petition urged the Federal Constitutional Court to declare the levy unconstitutional, restore parliamentary limits and oversight, prevent the executive from imposing unlimited financial burdens through notifications and direct the government to disclose how collected funds have been utilized.

Speaking to reporters, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman expressed hope that the court would intervene to end a continuing system of economic exploitation targeting the common citizen.