LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday announced nationwide protests on July 10 against the petroleum levy, rising fuel prices, inflation, and what he termed the government’s ineffective economic policies.
Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, Rehman said the demonstrations would continue until the government provided meaningful relief to the public. JI Deputy Emir Liaqat Baloch, JI Central Punjab Emir Muhammad Javed Kasuri and Lahore Emir Ziauddin Ansari flanked Rehman during the presser.
The JI chief berated the government’s overall handling of the energy sector, claiming that although the official price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was fixed at Rs241 per kilogramme, it was being sold in the market for around Rs500/kg. He added that prolonged gas load-shedding and high LPG prices were an added burden on the consumers.
“Affordable gas is vital for economic growth,” he stressed.
Referring to the government’s recent reduction in petrol prices, the JI leader called the Rs1.97-per-litre relief “inadequate”.
He also described the Rs118-per-litre in compounded taxes and levies on petrol collected by the authorities as “extortion” and claimed that the government collected around Rs8.5 trillion, which was used to meet tax collection targets instead of improving energy supply infrastructure.
Rehman urged the public to stand up against what he described as an unjust system, asserting that the retail price of petrol should not exceed Rs225 per litre. He made a special appeal to the young people to participate in Friday’s nationwide protests.
The JI chief also challenged the collection of the climate support levy on petroleum products and asked where, according to him, approximately Rs60 billion collected under the levy had been spent.
He highlighted that the petroleum levy disproportionately affected low-income and middle-class citizens, including labourers, students and motorcycle users, while influential landowners continued to dodge taxation. He demanded the immediate abolition of the levy and reiterated that petrol prices should not exceed Rs225 per litre.
The JI chief further asserted that the government lacked a clear economic strategy and had failed to utilise the country’s natural resources “effectively”, while citing the suboptimal use of oil and mineral reserves as an example.
Criticising the delay in the Pakistan-Iran gas pipeline project, he urged the government to restore trade with the neighbouring country to help meet Pakistan’s energy demands and claimed that Iran had already completed its share of the work.
Commenting on the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), Rehman alleged that the department was plagued by corruption amounting to trillions of rupees, and this burden of inefficiency was passed on to the public.
