JI Emir threatens shutdown, Islamabad march if petrol prices remain high

JI Emir threatens shutdown, Islamabad march if petrol prices remain high

LAHORE, Aug 18: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Tuesday warned the government that failure to reduce petrol prices would trigger a nationwide shutdown, followed by a wheel-jam campaign and a march towards Islamabad.
Addressing the third day of JI’s sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s House in Lahore, he said he would announce the date for a shutter-down strike at the party’s Peshawar protest on Wednesday. “If the rulers persist in their obstinacy, we will march on Islamabad on foot,” he warned, adding that the ongoing agitation could ultimately turn into a movement to oust the government.
He demanded that petrol be brought down to Rs225 per litre, the petroleum levy abolished and electricity tariffs reduced. “Give relief to the people or leave your seats,” he said, maintaining that the petroleum levy had become an additional burden on ordinary citizens.
Rehman thanked jailed PTI leaders Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ijaz Chaudhry, Mahmoodur Rasheed and Omar Sarfraz Cheema for supporting the JI sit-in. He said their support represented the “real PTI” and invited workers of both the PTI and PML-N to join the public struggle. He recalled that PTI founder Imran Khan had also supported JI’s previous sit-in while in jail.
The JI chief said the large crowds at protests in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar reflected growing public frustration with the ruling elite. He said the party’s current campaign was not for its own interests but for the rights of the people.
Recalling JI’s campaign against IPPs, Rehman said the party had exposed what it described as unjust power contracts two years ago and had forced the government to negotiate after a 14-day sit-in. A subsequent nationwide shutter-down campaign, he said, resulted in five of 27 IPPs being shut down. He questioned why the government could negotiate with 27 IPPs but not the remaining 73, and demanded that unjust agreements be revised to bring down electricity prices. He said that IPPs had received Rs1.7 trillion despite not generating electricity and criticised the government for failing to secure adequate tax payments from them.
The JI leader said the successive governments used the petroleum levy to extract billions from consumers. He said that around Rs8 trillion had been collected through the levy over the years, while the government had exceeded its current-year collection target. He said that Rs1 trillion was being collected through electricity bills and Rs1.2 trillion from salaried people.
He criticised the government’s decision to form committees to examine the problems of various sectors, saying the rulers were aware of their own impending political troubles. He also raised concerns about farmers, saying growers were denied a fair price for sugarcane while the government discussed importing sugar.
Moving beyond economic issues, Rehman called for a fundamental overhaul of Pakistan’s governance system. He criticised the colonial-era bureaucracy for treating citizens as subjects rather than equals and said merely changing individuals would not fix the system.
“Branches can be trimmed, but the system must be uprooted from its roots,” he said, arguing that feudal landlords, entrenched elites and political families had prevented Pakistan from developing a system based on justice and equal citizenship.
He said JI sought a system rooted in the country’s ideological foundations and maintained that Islam offered a comprehensive framework capable of addressing modern challenges. “We do not accept earthly gods,” he said, calling for a system based on justice, equality and public rights.
He also urged JI workers to identify elements seeking to confuse the movement and said such people would not be given organisational responsibilities. He described JI as an ideological movement committed to the establishment of a just social order and vowed to continue resisting all forms of oppression.
Referring to the party’s Aug 7 nationwide protest, Rehman said people had blocked roads in Balochistan and interior Sindh despite difficult circumstances. He said thousands were also participating in the Karachi sit-in outside the Governor House.
He criticised the political system in Karachi and called for transparent elections, saying a genuinely fair electoral process would expose the actual strength of every political party.
The JI Emir said the party’s immediate demands remained reduction in petrol prices, abolition of the petroleum levy, renegotiation of IPP contracts, cheaper electricity and lower food prices. He warned that any attempt to suppress the protests would widen the campaign into a movement aimed at bringing down the government.
JI leaders including Vice Emirs Liaquat Baloch and Dr Osama Razi, Deputy Secretary Russel Khan Babar, JI Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari, Central Punjab Emir Javed Kasuri, Northern Punjab Emir Dr Tariq Saleem and Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba Nazim-e-Aala Sahibzada Waseem Haider also addressed the Lahore sit-in. Acting Secretary General Nazir Ahmad Janjua and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi were present.
A large number of women and children joined the Lahore protest on its third day, while Liaquat Baloch separately addressed the women’s session.
In Karachi, JI local leaders addressed the gathering outside the Governor House. In Peshawar, KP Central Emir Abdul Wasey and other speakers addressed protesters. JI Hazara Emir Abdul Razzaq Abbasi also arrived in Peshawar with a procession to join the sit-in.