KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has warned that if Israel succeeds in defeating Iran, its border could touch Pakistan, which could be its next target.

Addressing a press conference at his party’s headquarters, Idara Noor-i-Haq here on Monday, he paid rich tribute to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan — the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear programme — for making the country a nuclear power. He also criticised former president General Pervez Musharraf for humiliating the ‘national hero’.

Hafiz Naeem said that Pakistan should stay out of US President Donald Trump’s ‘Peace Board’ and demanded Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif apologise to the nation for nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize.

He said that those trying to foment sectarianism or speaking against Iran “were effectively acting as agents of the US and Israel”. He said the entire Pakistani nation stood with Iran and wanted the war to come to an end. He said China and Russia should play their roles in resolving the conflict.

Discussing the economic situation in Pakistan, he criticised the government for increasing petrol prices, and questioned why Maryam Nawaz’s aircraft, reportedly worth Rs11 billion, had not been disposed of to help provide relief to the people of Punjab.

The JI leader praised the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government for deciding to provide Rs2,200 monthly relief to youth.

He demanded that no government officer, MPA, MNA, minister or adviser should be allowed to use vehicles with 1,300cc or heavier engine, and that the ‘free fuel policy’ for official vehicles should be done away with.

Hafiz Naeem also directed JI’s own local representatives that if any town chairman or vice chairman was using a government vehicle above 1,300cc, it should be replaced immediately.

He wondered that why the fuel prices in Pakistan were raised when it possessed 28 days’ stock available with it. He also criticised the increase of Rs 20 in petroleum levy, saying that the government continued to impose direct taxes on the public instead of addressing the inefficiency of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

He alleged that the IPPs (Independent Power Producers) ‘mafia’ had already consumed around Rs2 trillion. He demanded that the government should defer payments to them during the current crisis.

Speaking about Karachi’s infrastructure, he criticised the mayor, saying that an amount of around Rs4 billion was spent over the last three years on the Karimabad underpass construction, yet only its two narrow lanes were completed.

The JI chief highlighted a surge in street crime in the city and frequent accidents involving heavy vehicles.

Hafiz Naeem said that more than five million motorcycles operate in Karachi, and over 25 million across Pakistan, mostly used by students, workers, and middle-class citizens. “Since there is no reliable public transport in the metropolis, entire families have to travel by motorcycles,” he observed.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2026