JI warns of countrywide strike if recent petrol price hike not withdrawn

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday warned the government that the party could announce a countrywide strike if the recent increase in petrol and diesel prices was not withdrawn immediately.

Addressing a press conference on the third day of the JI sit-in outside the Punjab chief minister’s House, Rehman said the public was already paying heavy taxes on every litre of fuel and could no longer bear the rising cost of living.

He demanded that the government reduce fuel prices, abolish the petroleum levy and bring the price of petrol down to Rs225 per litre. He also announced that women and lawyers would join the ongoing protests.

“JI is not fighting for itself. It is fighting for the rights of the people,” Rehman said, adding that the protesters remained determined to continue their movement.

He said the latest increase in petrol and diesel prices had further angered the public. The government, he added, was collecting money from consumers through fuel levies as well as heavy taxes on electricity and gas bills.

Rehman also criticised widespread corruption in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), saying the institution’s failure was contributing to the country’s economic problems.

Turning to independent power producers (IPPs), he said successive governments had signed costly agreements in the name of ending load-shedding. He said the JI’s earlier protests had forced the government to review some of these arrangements.

The JI chief said the government had shut down five of the 27 IPPs and had itself claimed that the move would save the national exchequer Rs3.36 trillion. He demanded similar action on agreements with the remaining IPPs.

He criticised the governments in Punjab and Sindh over education, health and agriculture, saying thousands of schools in Punjab had been outsourced and that the education system in Sindh was also deteriorating.

The JI chief also criticised the country’s political system, saying the PML-N, PPP and MQM-P were benefiting from the existing political setup.

He called for empowered local governments and said constitutional provisions must be respected.

Rehman said Punjab had not held local government elections since 2015, while Balochistan had yet to conduct local elections.

Meanwhile, JI sit-ins continued in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar. The Lahore Bar Association announced its support for the Lahore protest.

Lahore Bar President Irfan Hayat Bajwa joined the sit-in and praised Hafiz Naeem for raising public awareness. He said lawyers would participate in the protest movement.

JI Vice Emir Liaqat Baloch, Acting Secretary General Nazir Ahmed Janjua, deputy secretaries Azhar Iqbal Hassan, Russal Khan Babar and Sheikh Usman Farooq, Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Tarabi were also present at the press conference.