JI Emir warns of Islamabad long march after Sept 3 nationwide strike

JI Emir warns of Islamabad long march after Sept 3 nationwide strike

Lahore, Aug 28: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Friday warned the government that the JI’s protest movement would escalate into an Islamabad long march after a nationwide strike on September 3, saying the campaign would not end until the people were given meaningful relief.
Addressing a press conference on the 13th day of JI’s sit-in outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s House in Lahore, Rehman said the September 3 strike would be a historic nationwide shutdown, followed by a call for a march on Islamabad.
“The government must provide relief to the people and abolish the petroleum levy and other unjust taxes. This movement is not going to stop now,” he said.
He said the protest campaign was spreading beyond Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar, with sit-ins and protest camps being established at hundreds of locations across Punjab and in parts of Sindh, including Hyderabad.
JI Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari, Punjab North Emir Dr Tariq Saleem, Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi were also present at the press conference.
The JI chief announced that a major public gathering would be held in Faisalabad on Friday, followed by a public meeting in Rawalpindi on August 30. The Peshawar sit-in would be turned into a public gathering on August 31, while the Karachi protest would also culminate in a large public meeting. He said a public gathering would also be held in Swat.
He announced that the party would launch a sit-in in Quetta on Saturday, where it would raise the issues confronting the people of Balochistan and discuss their possible solutions.
He said committees had already been formed to make the September 3 strike successful and the party would engage with traders and industrialists to mobilise support.
“We will continue the sit-in movement after the strike and then move towards Islamabad,” he said, adding that a formal call for the long march would be announced at an appropriate time.
The JI chief said the government had been forced to reduce the price of diesel because of pressure created by the JI’s protests, but argued that such measures were insufficient.
“People need permanent and genuine relief,” he said, reiterating his demand for the abolition of the petroleum levy and other taxes imposed on consumers.
Turning to the power crisis, Rehman questioned why Pakistan continued to face prolonged load-shedding despite having doubled its electricity generation capacity.
“The people are paying billions of rupees in capacity payments, yet load-shedding remains at its peak,” he said, demanding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif explain why electricity shortages persisted despite the country having sufficient generation capacity.
He also questioned the performance of power distribution companies, saying they continued to collect billions of rupees from consumers while failing to provide reliable electricity.
The JI leader said the PML-N, the PPP and the MQM are collectively contributing to the failure of country’s governance system.
“These parties engage in political theatrics against each other but join hands when it comes to filling their own pockets,” he said.
Referring to the incident at PIMS Hospital, Rehman held PDM government responsible for the tragedy and questioned the only suspension of a health secretary.
He demanded that responsibility for the incident be determined through a transparent inquiry rather than symbolic action.
He said that some members of parliament were sitting in the National Assembly despite failing to win even a single polling station in their constituencies, and added that the ruling elite was enjoying state-funded privileges at the expense of taxpayers.
Rehman particularly criticised Maryam Nawaz over the purchase of an aircraft costing Rs11 billion, saying such spending was unacceptable at a time when the province was facing severe economic and social problems.
He also criticised the use of high-capacity vehicles by the ruling elite, saying officials and influential people were enjoying vehicles of up to 3,400cc at public expense while the poor were being denied opportunities to earn a living.
To a question, he said that government officials were removing street vendors and small traders in the name of anti-encroachment operations, depriving poor families of their livelihoods.
“The people who order these so-called anti-encroachment operations themselves occupy positions without a genuine public mandate,” he said.
Referring to Maryam Nawaz, he used the phrase “encroached chief minister house” and warned that the government would ultimately face resistance from the people.
“Punjab CM House itself encroached,” he said, questioning Maryam Nawaz’s presence there
Hafiz Naeem said JI’s campaign was not confined to a single demand but was aimed at securing economic relief and basic rights for ordinary Pakistanis.