Cemaat-i İslami: Petrol vergisi kalkana kadar oturma eylemi sürecek

JI vows to continue sit-in until petroleum levy abolished

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Sunday that the party’s sit-in against the petroleum levy and rising fuel prices would continue until the government accepted its demands, warning that any attempt to obstruct the protest would turn it into a movement to oust the government. Addressing participants at the sit-in outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s House, Rehman described the petroleum levy as “extortionist”, accusing the government of raising both petrol prices and taxes on the fuel He said the rulers should cut their own expenditures and privileges instead of extracting more money from ordinary citizens. “Until the petroleum levy is abolished and our other demands are accepted, the sit-in will continue,” he said. “If the government tries to obstruct it, this sit-in will turn into a movement to bring down the government.” Rehman also rejected the government’s proposed committee of ministers for negotiations, saying the party did not need a briefing from a government committee. “Whoever wants to talk should come to the sit-in and talk to us,” he said, addressing Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directly. “We will not go to Islamabad to receive a briefing.” The JI chief claimed that the governments of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had failed, accusing the ruling leadership of “destroying” the entire system. He added that the JI had entered the second phase of its mass campaign for public rights after holding protests at 510 locations across the country on Aug 7. The JI chief added that major sit-ins had begun outside the Governor Houses in Karachi and Peshawar, while a large number of people had gathered at the historic protest site on The Mall in Lahore. “This is an organised struggle by a genuine public party. Our fight is not against any political party; it is against injustice, inflation and anti-people policies,” Rehman said. He said the government had made life increasingly difficult for ordinary families, with parents struggling to pay their children’s school fees and poor people being deprived of adequate healthcare. He also criticised what he described as a class-based education system. The JI chief said the government was increasing petrol prices and taxes separately, forcing people to pay thousands of rupees in fuel-related taxes every month, including those who were otherwise outside the tax net. Rehman rejected the government’s justification that the petroleum levy was being imposed under conditions attached to an IMF programme. He said the government should instead cut its own expenditures and recover taxes from privileged sections of society. He reiterated the JI’s demand for a reduction in petrol prices to Rs225 per litre and the abolition of the petroleum levy. Rehman also criticised the Punjab government’s publicity spending. Rehman said the existing “Form 47” representatives lacked public acceptance, vowing that the JI would continue its struggle to bring about fundamental changes to the system. “We are fighting for the people and against oppression,” he said, adding that the JI was not making demands that could not be implemented and had capable people who could run the country more effectively. He said the protests outside the Governor Houses in Karachi and Peshawar, along with demonstrations elsewhere in the country, showed that people had taken to the streets to demand their rights. “We have come here to get our demands accepted and will not retreat,” he said. “The sit-in will continue until the rulers back down, and our struggle will continue.” The JI’s campaign is also continuing with sit-ins outside the Governor’s House in Karachi and Peshawar. The party also held countrywide protest demonstrations on August 7.