JI Emir Announces Sept 3 Nationwide Strike Against Petrol Levy

JI Emir Announces Sept 3 Nationwide Strike Against Petrol Levy

LAHORE, Aug 27: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Thursday announced a nationwide strike on September 3 against the petroleum levy, warning the government that if relief was not provided to the people, the ongoing sit-in campaign would spread to markets and roads and could culminate in a long march to Islamabad.
“The rulers have neither a vision nor the ability to govern. Their only vision is to loot the people,” Rehman said while addressing participants of the JI sit-in outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s House in Lahore.
He said the protest movement was no longer confined to three cities, with sit-ins and demonstrations being held in several parts of the country. He urged party workers and supporters to intensify their struggle, saying the government was testing the patience of the people. He appealed to traders to support the September 3 peaceful nationwide strike in the interest of public rights. He said a major public gathering would be held in Faisalabad on Friday and indicated that the protest movement would be intensified in the coming days.
JI Deputy Secretary Rusal Khan Babar and Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari also addressed the protesters.
The sit-ins in Lahore, Peshawar and Karachi entered their 12th day, with large numbers of people continuing to participate despite hot and humid weather. Demonstrations were also being held in Hyderabad, several parts of interior Sindh, Faisalabad and southern Punjab following the JI leadership’s call. The protesters chanted slogans against the government over the PIMS tragedy, rising inflation and the overall economic situation, and vowed to continue the campaign until their demands were accepted.
Announcing the September 3 strike, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said all shops would remain closed as people took to the streets to demand lower petroleum prices and abolition of the petroleum levy.
He stressed that the strike would remain peaceful, saying “not even a flowerpot will be broken,” but warned that the government would have to accept the people’s demands.
He said JI’s campaign was not limited to the ongoing sit-ins but was a broader struggle against independent power producers (IPPs), the petroleum levy and flour mafia. If the government failed to meet the demands, protests would be taken into markets, with sit-ins and rallies planned there, followed by a possible long march towards Islamabad.
The JI Emir demanded abolition of the petroleum levy and termination of unjust IPP agreements. He also called for lower electricity and petrol prices for traders.
He said that JI’s previous protests had secured relief for consumers in electricity prices and added the government must now provide similar relief on petroleum products.
Turning to the PIMS tragedy, the JI chief described the deaths of children as a result of government incompetence and negligence. He questioned how the government could run the country when it could not properly manage even a hospital. He questioned why adequate safety measures had not been in place at PIMS and whether doctors and paramedics had been properly trained to deal with emergencies and disasters. He said there was no effective system for disaster-response training in the country.
Rehman also questioned the formation of a committee by PIMS after the prime minister had already constituted a committee to investigate the incident, saying the move appeared aimed at deflecting responsibility. He demanded a comprehensive investigation into the PIMS incident and said the matter could not be closed with the suspension of a single official. He called on ministers and advisers to resign, saying those responsible had become “national criminals” and that the government’s “drama” must end.
He also expressed concern over reports of HIV spreading among newborn children in Karachi, saying that the use of reused syringes and corruption were behind the problem. He said the situation reflected a failure of government oversight and administration in the health sector.
Criticising the PDM political setup, he that the PML-N, PPP and MQM were engaged in political “Nora Kushti” while dividing people along linguistic and other lines. He said the PDM parties had jointly brought down the former PTI government and described the current rulers as products of “Form 47.”
Rehman also criticised the Punjab government, saying claims of development and prosperity were contradicted by the condition of public services. He said that basic facilities were being taken away from people under the cover of cosmetic measures.
He said that 11,000 government schools had been sold under the Punjab government and alleged that basic health centres had also been sold and renamed “Maryam Nawaz Clinics.” He said nations could not be built through cosmetic projects and distribution of laptops alone.
The JI chief said Pakistan’s youth were the country’s greatest asset and that the country possessed enormous IT talent, but young people were not receiving adequate IT education or opportunities.
“If the government were really working for the people, data centres would have already been established,” he said.
On the energy crisis, the JI leader said that Pakistan had three times more electricity than its actual requirement but consumers were still being forced to pay high tariffs. He said that thousands of billions of rupees were being paid to IPPs from public funds, with consumers ultimately bearing the burden.
He also raised concerns about women’s security in Punjab, saying many cases of crimes against women went unreported. He said the government was depriving people of education and basic rights and said schemes such as the Benazir Income Support Programme had also faced allegations of corruption. He that the PML-N used public money for its publicity campaigns and said the people had already rejected the ruling elite.
He reiterated that JI’s sit-in was aimed at securing the rights of Pakistan’s 250 million people. The state, he said, was responsible for providing basic rights to citizens, but successive governments had instead burdened them with taxes.