Jamaat-e-Islami sets 10-day deadline over petroleum levy

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has given the government seven to 10 days to deliver public relief and show movement towards abolishing the petroleum levy, after a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister's House in Islamabad on Tuesday.

Rehman said the government had asked for more time to prepare relief measures and had agreed to expand its existing package. He confirmed that JI's long march to Islamabad will take place in mid-November, and warned that the party would intensify protests if the government failed to meet its demands.

Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Senator Rana Sanaullah, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani represented the government. The JI delegation included vice chief Liaquat Baloch, Deputy Secretary General Syed Farasat Shah and Islamabad chapter chief Nasrullah Randhawa.

The two reports differ on the length of the window. Daily Times reported that the prime minister sought seven to 10 days to address the demands, while Minute Mirror reported that technical committees had been given eight to 10 days to develop proposals.

Rehman criticised the relief package as small compared with what the government collects through the levy, putting monthly levy collections at about Rs150 billion. Daily Times reported that he cited relief figures of Rs32 billion and Rs26 billion during his remarks, leaving a discrepancy between the two amounts.

He rejected a limited cut of Rs25 or Rs35 per litre as insufficient and said JI wants the levy abolished completely. According to Minute Mirror, officials raised concerns that removing the levy would create a revenue shortfall and floated a reduction of Rs25 to Rs30 per litre, with a gradual taper rather than immediate abolition.

Minute Mirror also reported that Rehman claimed the party's campaign had already contributed to a Rs32 per litre reduction in diesel prices, that he called for local government elections in Islamabad, and that he criticised the imposition of an emergency in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as a violation of human rights, demanding the decision be withdrawn.

The JI chief said low- and middle-income households carry a large share of the levy's burden and demanded lower petrol prices and the removal of additional taxes, including customs duties and the climate support levy. He urged the government to improve tax collection instead of adding pressure on citizens.

A JI committee will continue negotiations with the government on relief measures. Its members are Liaquat Baloch, Farasat Shah, Nasrullah Randhawa and Naveed Ali Baig. The party said it would keep preparing for the mid-November march regardless of the talks. Minute Mirror reported that JI postponed a planned long march from Karachi in September after the government asked for more time.