JI announces Aug 16 sit-ins in provincial capitals to protest petroleum levy

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) is going to step up its anti-petroleum levy and inflation campaign with sit-ins in all four provincial capitals on August 16.

The decision came following lengthy discussions in a special meeting of the central and provincial office-bearers of the JI presided over by party chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman at Mansoora on Saturday.

Rehman said the sit-ins would be staged outside the house of the Punjab chief minister in Lahore and the governor’s houses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh and Balochistan.

According to the plan, the JI and its youth and women’s wings will participate in the independence day celebrations on August 14 and use the opportunity to propagate their ideals of a just system.

The JI chief added that the day-long protests in all cities of Pakistan had provided fresh impetus to their movement against petroleum levy and inflation. Over 510 demonstrations had been held peacefully, with people from all over Pakistan taking part.

Rehman maintained that the people had made it clear through the protests that “JI is becoming the symbol of national unity” as people from Chitral, Malakand, Hazara and central Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, among others, were raising their voices against the petroleum levy.

The JI chief pointed out that the public had rejected the levy and demanded reduction in the price of petrol to Rs225 per litre. The ruling elite, he alleged, was imposing unbearable economic pressure on the common man but did not want to make any cuts in their personal expenditure and privileges.

The JI chief further said that the ruling elite was not willing to give up the official aircraft and cut down the government expenses on vehicles as well as the perks of free fuel and electricity. But students, motorcyclists, workers and farmers were being forced to pay indirect taxes on petroleum products.

He also pointed out that it would no longer be possible to make the general population bear the brunt of the policies made by the government, and it would be imperative on the rulers to give them their rightful rights.

Rehman further appreciated the recent defence agreement between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkiye terming it “a positive development for the Muslim world.”

He pointed out that if the Islamic countries cooperate more with each other, they can form a bloc of strength which will decrease Pakistan and the rest of the Muslim world’s reliance on the outside forces.

Moreover, he suggested the inclusion of Iran, Qatar, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia into the defence cooperation pact, and that gradual efforts need to be made to bring all Muslim countries into the same fold.

“Muslim countries should unite, cooperate with one another and create joint strength to counter regional and global threats,” he asserted.

A day before, several main roads in Karachi were blocked or traffic was disrupted due to the sit-ins arranged by the JI as part of the country-wide protest against the petroleum levy.

Reacting to the protests, Sindh government’s spokesperson Sadia Javed commented that petroleum levy is a matter of the federation, and asked what crime had been committed by the citizens of Karachi as they had been “punished” with the blockade of the roads.

She also accused the JI of using the protest as a means to gain political mileage rather than serving the citizens of Karachi.