The Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) announced on Wednesday that it will launch the third phase of its nationwide protest movement against the petroleum levy on Friday, with sit-ins planned in all districts across the country, according to a press release by the party.
The government currently levies Rs114 per litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel. The Centre and JI had agreed to form committees in early September – when the latter had planned a nationwide strike – to recommend measures to reduce the levy.
Wednesday’s press release by JI said the new phase of demonstrations would begin on the instructions of party chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, and that the party’s clear and firm demand remained the complete abolition of the petroleum levy. JI claimed that the government had made no further contact regarding a planned meeting between Rehman and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, which the latter had offered to hold.
The press release recalled that Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the PM’s adviser on political affairs, Rana Sanaullah, had contacted JI Vice Emir Liaqat Baloch to convey the premier’s message seeking a meeting.
“Both sides had agreed that their respective committees would meet to work out a schedule for the proposed meeting,” it read, noting, however, that the government had made no further contact after that.
The party stressed that Rehman had already clarified that the agenda of any meeting with the prime minister would be the abolition of the petroleum levy.
“The JI emir has warned that if the government continues to delay action and refuses to provide relief to the public, the matter will be decided through street protests.”
It added that the JI’s campaign against the petroleum levy would continue nationwide until its demand was met. On Aug 16, the JI announced sit-ins in all the provincial capitals of Pakistan against the petroleum levy and had called for a nationwide strike on Sept 3.
On Sept 20, the party launched a protest march towards Islamabad, warning that if the government failed to abolish the petroleum levy, the protest could turn into one to oust the government.
However, on Sept 22, the JI emir said his party, whose convoy had reached Multan, was postponing its long march at the request of PM Shehbaz, pending a meeting with him.