LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has warned the government of a “full-scale” march on Islamabad in mid-November if Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif fails to abolish the petroleum levy.

Addressing a press conference at Mansoora here on Monday, he said a meeting with the prime minister was expected within the next two to three days to discuss a specific agenda.

“If the prime minister does not abolish the levy, there will be no further meeting,” he announced, warning that the party would adopt a tougher strategy after exercising restraint for a considerable period.

Rehman said the public anger over rising prices was growing and urged the government to act before the situation spiralled out of control. He said the party’s district-level elections would conclude by Nov 1, after which preparations for the Islamabad march would begin.

He rejected the government’s argument that it lacked the fiscal space to abolish it. He argued that the IMF agreement did not prohibit the government from ending the levy and questioned how the authorities created fiscal space for Rs160bn to spend on emergency measures in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

He also described the government’s existing petrol relief package as inadequate, saying it failed to cover around 15 million motorcycles, hundreds of thousands of cars and users of public transport.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2026