JI vows to step up campaign after today’s strike

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Wednesday vowed to step up the party’s campaign against the petroleum levy, independent power producers (IPPs) and rising inflation after its nationwide shutter-down strike on Thursday. Speaking at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq alongside Karachi JI chief Monem Zafar, he said the Sept 3 strike would be “historic” and the party would announce its next course of action afterwards. He said options under consideration included a long march towards Islamabad, sit-ins in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and expanding the protest movement across the country. He said JI sit-ins in the four provincial capitals had entered their 18th day, while the protest in Peshawar had expanded to five locations. A sit-in in Hyderabad had continued for 10 days, while protests were also being held in interior districts and remote areas, including Chitral. Naeemur Rehman said public participation in the movement was growing, while traders across the country, including Karachi, had announced “unanimous and extraordinary” support for the JI campaign and the Sept 3 strike. He said the government would have to abolish the petroleum levy and cancel what he described as anti-people agreements with IPPs. Calling the petroleum levy and payments to IPPs a grave injustice, he appealed to political workers from all parties, whether in government or opposition, to join the movement. He said the campaign had raised public awareness about how successive governments were placing a growing tax burden on ordinary citizens. Naeemur Rehman said Pakistan had around 25 million motorcycles and about five million four-wheeled vehicles, with motorcycles mainly used by low- and middle-income people. He claimed the government was collecting around Rs130 per litre through the petroleum levy and other taxes, placing an unfair burden on ordinary citizens. He also criticized what he called the extravagant spending and official protocols of rulers, saying taxpayers ultimately bore their cost. On IPPs, he claimed more than Rs1. 7 trillion had been paid to certain power producers for electricity that had not been generated. He also alleged that some IPP owners had registered their companies outside Pakistan and did not pay income tax in the country. He said the JI campaign against IPPs had helped save billions of rupees for the national exchequer and contributed to a Rs16 reduction in electricity prices. On proposals for new administrative units and the division of provinces, Naeemur Rehman said JI had no objection to creating administrative units within the constitutional framework. The JI chief, however, questioned PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari over the party’s election results in Karachi and criticized both the PPP and MQM-P, urging them not to create divisions between Sindhi and Muhajir communities. Copyright Business Recorder, 2026

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