JI chief calls encounters extrajudicial killings, warns of long march

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday described the killing of suspects in two recent police encounters as extrajudicial killings, and warned that his party will march on Islamabad in mid-November unless the government abolishes the petroleum levy.

Addressing a news conference at Mansoorah in Lahore, he cited the cases of Laiba Ijaz, a gold medallist from International Islamic University Islamabad, and Waseem Abbas, a 15-year-old orphan, saying suspects in both had been shot dead instead of being brought before a court. ARY News reported that the main accused in the Laiba Ijaz case was killed in firing on a police team in Islamabad.

"Extrajudicial killings show that anarchy has spread across the country," he said, alleging that a handful of powerful people were acting without accountability and that the killings were intended to suppress public anger. He said the real culprits were being concealed by killing the suspects, and that the man accused in the fraud against Laiba need not have acted alone.

On the Waseem Abbas case, he said it reflected deeper problems rooted in feudalism, capitalism and the influence of powerful individuals, and that connections with influential people and government officials allowed some to act without fear of accountability. He also accused what he called mafias in the flour, sugar, banking, oil marketing and land sectors of exploiting the existing system.

"Even if 4,000 people are killed in extrajudicial encounters, how will that correct a system of oppression imposed on a country of millions?" he asked, arguing that police encounters could not replace courts and due process.

On fuel prices, he demanded the complete removal of the petroleum levy and rejected the government's position that commitments to the International Monetary Fund prevented it. Minute Mirror reported that he said petrol could be sold for around Rs225 per litre if the levy and what he called unjustified refinery profits were eliminated.

He said government ministers had again approached the JI committee handling the party's demands, and that the party had never refused a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. But he said it would not hold further talks if the meeting produced no relief, and that the struggle would then move to the streets, where decisions would be made through public action. He said the party would make an important announcement on the evening of the day fixed for the meeting.

He also criticised economic policy, saying the policy rate had been raised to 11.5 per cent while the constitutional commitment to end interest-based banking by January 1, 2027 remained unfulfilled, and alleging that banks and refineries were aligned against ordinary citizens. Separately, he expressed concern over the situation in Palestine.