JI calls for statewide protest after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal over petrol levy

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan chairman Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman called a countrywide shutter-down strike after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal over the petroleum levy, stating the government would have to decrease the petroleum costs.

Talking to a news conference in Lahore, Hafiz Naeem said their campaign was going in the best possible way and added that the government will have to cut down the pricing of petroleum goods.

He claimed the country cannot move forward in the presence of flour and sugar mafias and appealed to the people to come up and join their resistance. He also added that farmers were not obtaining fertilisers at affordable costs while government officials were utilising costly automobiles using taxpayers’ money.

The Jamaat-e-Islami head stated they would observe a country-wide strike after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal, adding that negotiations would not be held on the basis of assurances to halt the sit-in. He said the sit-in will continue until the government practically accepted their requests.

Hafiz Naeem also stated the petroleum levy, which he called a type of extortion tax, should not be enforced under any circumstances and the government would have to cut petrol prices.

If their demands were not accepted they would march on Islamabad, they said. No one could stop them and no Jamaat-e-Islami worker would hesitate to make sacrifices.

It may be recalled that Jamaat-e-Islami has been organising sit-ins outside governors’ residences around the country against the petroleum levy, with the protests entering their eighth day today.