JI Sets Islamabad Long March For September 20 Levy Protest
JI chief says the protest could turn into a full-scale movement to remove the government
Jamaat-e-Islami – (Staff Reporter/Web Desk) – Jamaat-e-Islami has picked a date to bring its protest straight to the capital. The JI Islamabad long march September 20 will go ahead unless the government drops the petroleum levy before then, party chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman said on Friday.
Speaking at a rally in Gujranwala, Rehman told supporters that people from every part of the country would travel to Islamabad in caravans. He said the government needed to listen to the public’s growing anger over rising fuel costs.
Rehman made it clear that patience was running out. If the levy is still in place when the march starts, he said, people on the streets of Islamabad will settle the matter themselves.
He went further, warning that if the government ignores these demands, the party will launch a full campaign to push the government out of power.
Right now, the government charges Rs114 in tax on every litre of petrol and Rs100 on every litre of diesel. JI has kept up sit-ins against this charge for 27 straight days in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi, and many other cities.
Rehman also announced a new gathering, this time for women, set to take place in Islamabad on Saturday. He said the ongoing sit-ins across the country would grow even bigger in the coming days.
Before the rally, Rehman met with JI leaders from across Pakistan at Mansoorah in Lahore to plan the movement’s next steps.
He didn’t stop at fuel prices. Rehman accused powerful families and the bureaucracy of running the system for their own benefit, leaving ordinary workers to struggle while their children go without school.
He also took aim at the Punjab government, saying thousands of cases involving violence against women have led to very few convictions.
Turning to Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, Rehman asked her to give the tax authority a full record of her spending, following her recent claim that she paid for a London trip herself.
He said the levy has already pulled in more than a trillion rupees from the public, money he believes should go toward healthcare and education instead.
Rehman closed by saying that if the government cannot answer these questions, the people will now demand the answers on their own.
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