Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday reiterated warnings of evolving the party’s ongoing sit-ins against the petroleum levy into a movement to oust the incumbent government, maintaining the call for the Sept. 20 march on Islamabad remains intact.
Addressing a gathering in Karachi as the JI marks a month since it launched its sit-ins nationwide, he said the government had no choice but to accept the party’s demands for an end to the petroleum levy. He said the party’s strategy for the Sept. 20 Islamabad march would be unveiled on Sept. 17.
“Forty cities are continuing sit-ins, and the government’s containers will not be able to block our way,” he said, while rejecting the Prime Minister’s Fuel Relief Scheme and dubbing it mere eyewash. “This is not charity that the Pakistani nation wants. The nation wants its rights,” he said, adding the public’s right was the abolition of the petroleum levy.
Accusing the government of negotiating with the JI party on one hand while “dropping a petrol bomb” daily, he also demanded an end to the daily price fixation mechanism introduced by the government in July.
Rehman maintained the government should have reduced the petroleum levy amidst rising global prices instead of allowing prices to rise without any significant relief for the public. He noted the Petroleum Dealers Association had already said implementing the prime minister’s scheme would be difficult, as it was introduced without prior consultation.
“Accept our demands with honor, accept them properly. We do not want anything for our party or for ourselves. We want relief for the people of Pakistan, for mothers and sisters,” he added.