KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman on Friday warned the government that his party would launch a nationwide march on Islamabad, if the petroleum levy was not withdrawn.

The warning came as the JI’s sit-in entered its sixth day in Karachi, where Hafiz Naeem addressed the sit-in attended by a large number of party workers and supporters, including women and children.

“I want to make it clear to the rulers that if the petroleum levy is not withdrawn and our protest is ignored, we will march towards Islamabad from across the country,” he warned.

“From Karachi to Khyber and Kashmir to Gwadar, people will march on foot towards Islamabad. This will be the first such protest in Pakistan’s history. You may deploy containers and block Islamabad but you will not be able to stop a sea of people.”

Warns govt of marching on Islamabad if petroleum levy not withdrawn

In his address, he termed the government’s Rs32 per litre reduction in diesel prices insufficient and demanded the abolition of the petroleum levy and other taxes on fuel.

“Our clear and unequivocal demand is that the petroleum levy is abolished and the price of petrol be fixed at Rs225 per litre for three years,” he said.

He also called for the cancellation of “anti-people” agreements with independent power producers (IPPs), an end to billions of rupees in capacity payments and the provision of cheaper electricity to consumers.

The JI leader urged people belonging to all political and religious parties to join the protest, saying that the issue of petrol price affected everyone.

Hafiz Naeem said that ordinary citizens were paying Rs130 per litre in petroleum levy and other taxes on fuel. He criticised government spending, saying that “Rs380 billion worth of free petrol and Rs280 billion worth of free electricity had been provided to the government and bureaucracy during the previous year”.

He said the government collected Rs1.566 trillion from the petroleum levy last year, exceeding its target by Rs100bn.

Referring to the party’s previous 14-day protest against IPPs, he claimed that the campaign had resulted in a saving of Rs8.64 per unit for residential consumers and Rs16.34 per unit for commercial consumers.

He said agreements with five IPPs had been terminated, while negotiations had been reopened with 22 others, resulting in an alleged benefit of Rs3.4 trillion to the national exchequer.

He said inflation had made life extremely difficult for ordinary people and described the protest against the petroleum levy as a struggle concerning the entire country rather than any particular community.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2026