No End to Sit-ins Until Petroleum Levy Is Scrapped: Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman

No End to Sit-ins Until Petroleum Levy Is Scrapped: Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman

LAHORE, Aug 29: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Saturday warned that the JI would block roads across Rawalpindi if authorities stopped its rally at Liaquat Bagh on Sunday, saying the rulers should end its luxuries and provide relief to the people.
Addressing participants of the JI sit-in outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s House on its 14th day, Rehman said the JI’s nationwide protests had completed two weeks and had now become a movement representing the 250 million people of Pakistan.
He announced that a successful nationwide strike would be held on September 3 and warned that the JI would expand its campaign further if the government failed to accept its demands. “After the strike, we will give a call for a long march towards Islamabad,” he said.
The JI emir said the government should stop providing free electricity and fuel to officials and end the use of expensive official vehicles. “The rulers should abandon their luxuries and provide facilities and relief to the people,” he said.
He criticised Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz for purchasing Rs11 billion aircraft while ordinary families were struggling to meet their basic needs. He also called for the sale of the aircraft and the Senate chairman’s vehicle to generate resources for public relief.
Rehman said the government should abolish free fuel for officials, adding that the move alone could save the country Rs380 billion. He also proposed that no government officer should be allowed to use a vehicle with an engine capacity above 1,300cc.
“Driving a smaller car will not kill anyone,” he said, urging the ruling elite to end what he called their lavish lifestyle.
Criticising the petroleum levy, the JI leader said the government was imposing around Rs130 in taxes on every litre of petrol, including an Rs80 levy. He said that the authorities had collected more than Rs8 trillion through the petroleum levy.
He said the levy was another form of an assault on the public’s rights. Despite a decline in international oil prices, he said, the government had failed to pass on the benefit to consumers.
Rehman said inflation had made it increasingly difficult for families to meet basic needs. He also criticised the public healthcare system, saying patients were forced to purchase medicines from outside even when treatment was officially described as free.
He said women also lacked dignified and affordable transport facilities, adding that the government should focus on providing basic services instead of spending public money on privileges for the ruling elite.
On the power crisis, Rehman questioned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over continued load-shedding despite the country having a much higher power generation capacity than current demand.
He said Pakistan had an installed generation capacity of 49,000 megawatts against demand of around 21,000MW. He said the government was sustaining the “IPP mafia” with public money and said JI protests against independent power producers had already saved the country billions of rupees.
He maintained that there would be no need to impose the petroleum levy if the government ended unfair agreements with IPPs and curtailed the ruling elite’s privileges.
Appealing to traders and industrialists to join the September 3 strike, Rehman said he had met traders in Faisalabad and would travel to Rawalpindi on Sunday. He urged the business community to stand with the people and participate in the nationwide shutdown.
Regarding the Rawalpindi rally, he said the party had received reports that Liaquat Bagh had been locked and that permission for the gathering was being denied.
“We are peaceful people. Give us permission to hold our rally at Liaquat Bagh,” he said, warning that the situation could escalate if the government prevented the gathering.
“If we are not allowed to hold a peaceful rally, we will hold daily marches outside the Chief Minister’s House in Lahore and governor houses in other provinces,” he warned.
Rehman said the JI would not end its sit-ins unless the government withdrew the petroleum levy and accepted its demands.
“If you cannot abolish the levy, we cannot end our sit-ins,” he said, adding that the party would further broaden its movement if its demands were not accepted.
He urged the government to “come to its senses,” saying the country could not afford political unrest. “If the government wants unrest, we cannot do anything about it,” he said.
JI Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari and JI Central Punjab Emir Javed Qasuri also addressed the gathering.
The JI said its sit-ins were continuing in all four provincial capitals, Chitral, Hyderabad and several other locations across interior Sindh. Despite intense heat and humidity, a large number of participants attended the sit-ins and chanted slogans against anti-people government policies.