Hafiz Naeem warns JI will resume long march if PM fails to provide petroleum levy relief

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday said that the party will resume its long march towards Islamabad if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif fails to provide relief on the petroleum levy during their upcoming meeting.

Addressing party workers in Lahore, Hafiz Naeem said that the JI had not deviated from the strategy it had adopted for its protest movement. He said that the party continued to highlight issues concerning electricity, independent power producers (IPPs) and "mafias" affecting the public, while also presenting its own proposals for addressing these issues.

Speaking about IPPs, Hafiz Naeem said that government ministers had previously claimed that negotiations with IPPs were not possible. He said the JI’s campaign had subsequently led to relief for consumers, and that the government later disclosed that it had held talks with 57 IPPs, resulting in a Rs4.5 trillion benefit to the government.

He said that no political party had previously raised the petroleum levy issue, adding that many people were unaware of the levy a few months ago. Hafiz Naeem reiterated the JI’s position that the levy was unrelated to the actual cost of petrol and described it as a form of tax.

The JI chief said organising sit-ins and protests was not easy and attributed the success of the party’s demonstrations to public participation. He said the party had staged road blockades, sit-ins, public gatherings, strikes and a long march and had not withdrawn from its protest movement.

Hafiz Naeem said the party would hold a public gathering in Lahore the following day, while rallies were continuing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He added that JI workers remained ready to continue the protest movement.

The JI had temporarily paused its march following Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s request for talks on the petroleum levy. Hafiz Naeem has said the party’s next course of action will depend on the outcome of his meeting with the prime minister.