ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Thursday warned that the JI would expand its ongoing sit-ins into a nationwide wheel-jam and shutter-down strike the week after 12th Rabiul Awwal (August 26) if the government failed to abolish the petroleum levy.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, he said the party would, in addition, establish protest camps across the country in support of its campaign. He said the JI could also march on Islamabad on foot if the government failed to respond to its demands.

Rehman said he would address the sit-in in Lahore on Thursday, while a public gathering would be held at the Karachi protest venue on Friday.

The JI chief said inflation had severely affected ordinary citizens, while the “Form 47 rulers” had failed to deliver basic services. He described the petroleum levy as an unjustified “extortionary tax”, saying consumers were paying around Rs80 per litre under the levy.

According to him, the levy was originally introduced to finance the upgrading of Pakistan’s oil refineries. However, he said, the government had collected more than Rs8 trillion from consumers under the levy while spending less than Rs100 billion on refinery upgrades.

Rehman said JI sit-ins in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were attracting increasing numbers of people, including traders, religious scholars, youth and civil society members. The protests, he said, had evolved into a platform for raising wider public grievances.

“We want relief for the nation. The abolition of the levy is not a matter of our ego; it is a matter concerning the people,” he said, urging citizens to support the campaign.

He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to reduce petrol and diesel prices by Rs130, arguing that the government should pass the full benefit to consumers.

The government had on Wednesday cut the price of high-speed diesel by Rs32.63 per litre and raised the price of petrol by Rs2.97 per litre.

On a question about negotiations, Rehman said JI would not participate in government briefings and instead wanted the rulers to come to the protesters and engage directly with them.

Recalling JI’s previous campaign against independent power producers (IPPs), Rehman said party workers had been stopped from entering Islamabad and subjected to tear-gas shelling before they established a sit-in in Rawalpindi.

He said the government subsequently negotiated with JI and five IPPs were shut down and new agreements were signed with others, which he said saved the national exchequer Rs3.36 trillion.

The party chief said 73 IPPs still needed to be reviewed and argued that meaningful negotiations with them could substantially reduce electricity prices within the next 12 to 18 months.

He further said that IPPs were also being paid for electricity that was not generated, shifting the cost onto consumers.

JI chief criticises rising taxes, cost of living

The JI emir also criticised what he called the excessive privileges enjoyed by the ruling elite while low-income citizens faced rising taxes and living costs. He said the burden of the political elite’s expenditures was being borne by ordinary Pakistanis.

Rehman said Pakistan’s total debt had risen to Rs98 trillion and called on the government to honour its commitments regarding the elimination of interest-based financing. He said reducing interest payments would help ease the country’s debt burden.

He also criticised the power tariff structure, saying consumers continued to face excessive electricity bills while the government relied on additional charges to raise revenue. He questioned why the public should bear the cost when the Federal Board of Revenue’s 25,000 employees failed to meet their targets.

Calling for austerity, he proposed that government vehicles should have engine capacities of no more than 1,300cc. He said corruption and unnecessary taxation must be eliminated.

Turning to provincial governance, Rehman said the PPP had damaged Sindh and added that the PML-N had ruled Punjab for nearly four decades without resolving the province’s structural problems. He said poverty had significantly increased in Punjab.

He also criticised Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz’s education policy, saying that 11,000 schools had been outsourced.

“If you cannot run the education system, this is your failure,” he said.

Addressing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he questioned the government’s priorities, saying it was unfair to impose the petroleum levy on ordinary citizens while allocating Rs11 billion for what he described as expenditure benefiting the prime minister’s niece.

He also demanded the release of PTI founder Imran Khan and all political prisoners. He described restricting medical treatment for Imran as “fascism” and called for him to be provided with all necessary healthcare facilities.

JI Vice-Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Farasat Shah, Islamabad Emir Nasrullah Randhawa and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi were also present at the press conference.