Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Friday unveiled his party’s schedule for its planned “super long march” on Islamabad, emphasizing that their sole demand is the abolition of the petroleum development levy.
According to Rehman, the march would commence with caravans from all four provinces, converging in Islamabad, where demonstrators would demand and end to the levy amidst mounting fuel prices caused by the Middle East conflict.
Caravans from Karachi would depart the Sindh capital on Sept. 20, he said, adding they would travel by train. This march, he continued, would reach Multan on Sept. 21. A day later, on Sept. 22, the gathered caravan in Multan would set out for Lahore by road. Throughout, he claimed, caravans from across Sindh and Balochistan would join the protesters.
Upon reaching Lahore, the protesters would shift their goal to Islamabad, traveling to it via GT Road. At the same time, caravans from across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and northern Punjab would also set off, converging at their destination in Islamabad around Sept. 23-24.
Emphasizing that the JI’s sole demand remained abolishing the petroleum levy, he said the march was inevitable if the government refused the complete withdrawal of the petroleum levy.
He said the prolonged sit-ins nationwide had raised public awareness and generated hope among the people that their economic problems could be addressed through political struggle. He said the movement did not aim to serve the interests of any individual or political party, but rather was focused on raising issues faced by the wider population.
He said the JI negotiating team had held four rounds of talks with the government but the authorities continued to cite the International Monetary Fund as a reason for retaining the petroleum levy. “The government has to abolish the petroleum levy,” he stressed, warning that failure to address public demands would merely intensify the movement.