LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday announced a nationwide strike in the first week of September against the petroleum levy, warning the government that the party will take its protests to the streets if the levy was not abolished.
Addressing a press conference here on the ninth day of the JI sit-in outside the Chief Minister’s House in Lahore, Mr Naeem said the party would announce the next phase of its agitation on Tuesday night (tonight).
He said the campaign was not aimed at securing any personal or political interests, but at providing relief to people struggling with inflation, and what he described as, the incompetence of the ruling elite.
The JI chief claimed the government reduced the diesel prices by Rs32 per litre and electricity rates, buckling under the party’s protests, but consumers had not received the corresponding relief.
He said oil companies are charging consumers imported-oil prices even for locally produced oil.
“Today, even students are paying Rs80 in levies and taxes on every litre,” Mr Naeem said, adding that the government was taking 33 per cent of the petrol price from the consumers through various charges.
The JI leader said the government had itself acknowledged that the JI protests had benefited the national exchequer by billions of rupees. He rejected the impression that the protests were a “matter of ego”, saying the party only wanted relief for ordinary people. “The IPP mafia is sucking the blood of the people,” he said, insisting that the government must end agreements with them.
The JI emir also criticised the government over rising prices of food and other essential commodities, also questioning its wheat handling. He said wheat export permission contributed to an increase in the domestic prices.
On the security situation, Naeem said terrorist attacks are continuing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and called for national unity and political consensus to address the challenges.
Referring to the ongoing sit-in in Kashmir, he said disputes should be resolved through dialogue.
The JI chief said Seerat conferences would also be held at the protest sites on 12th of Rabiul Awwal.
Published in Dawn, August 25th, 2026
