LAHORE: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) will start a protest movement from June 15 against the government over price hike and what it described as capitulation to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a press statement, JI leader Liaquat Baloch said the movement would kick off from Faisalabad and soon become the most authentic voice of the poor in the country.

“The PTI government has made life of people miserable and it is asking the opposition to hide its failures,” Mr Baloch said.

Explaining the objectives of the movement, JI emir Sirajul Haq told Dawn that his party was taking to the streets to protest massive inflation, the government’s handing over fiscal sovereignty to the IMF and politics-driven accountability process instead of taking all the corrupt to the task.

“The protest movement would contain all: protest rallies, public meetings, corner meetings and whatever else is possible,” the JI chief said. This government had made the lives of the poor so difficult that the JI was left with no option but to raise voice for the people, he added.

Explaining why the JI decided to go alone instead of waiting for the decision of the joint opposition that also was preparing for agitation after Eid, the JI chief said every party had its own agenda and tactics.

He said: “The JI feels that its agenda drifts away from the rest of the opposition when it comes to the accountability process. Others are concentrating on price hike alone, whereas the Jamaat is committed to accountability process as well.

“It wants that all the 436 people mentioned in the Panama Papers be proceeded against and accountability process be made transparent and above board. Some of the opposition parties do not like our stance.”

However, party insiders believed that the modalities of the protest movement might be decided after Eid.

They said the JI chief was going to Saudi Arabia for spending the last 10 days of Ramazan in Makkah. He would return a few days after Eid and preside over a meeting of the party to finalise the plan for the movement and its tactics. Things would be clear after Eid, they said.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2019