JI keeps protest camps active as PM seeks talks

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Tuesday the party would give Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif time for talks on public relief but would not withdraw its sit-ins or planned long march to Islamabad, the Express Tribune reported.

At a press conference in Multan, Rehman said the party had decided after lengthy consultations to keep its protest camps active while allowing the prime minister to meet JI leaders and discuss relief measures. He said PM Shehbaz had telephoned him at Multan railway station and asked that the march be postponed or cancelled. The prime minister told him he would meet the JI after returning to Pakistan and announce a better relief package, Rehman added.

"I told him that your ministers have been making these promises for so many days, and we have been forced into this situation," Rehman said, adding the party had no desire to protest in severe heat if the issue could be resolved.

The JI chief said the government's existing relief package was inadequate and the party's central demand was abolition of the additional levy on petroleum products. He rejected the package, saying it amounted to Rs26 billion to Rs30 billion a month while the government was collecting Rs150 billion in levy. "The ultimate solution is to abolish the additional levy on petrol," he said.

Rehman said the party would seek a written assurance from the government and that workers would remain active until the prime minister returned. The long march would remain stationed in Multan until talks took place. "This will be the government's last chance for talks," he said, adding that the petroleum levy must go.

According to the Express Tribune, Rehman said the JI had staged protests and sit-ins at 510 locations nationwide from August 7, expanded to four provincial headquarters and later 42 cities, and held a shutdown strike on September 3 with public and traders' support. The party presented proposals to the government committee but the government cited IMF pressure for not abolishing the levy, he said.

The Islamabad march began on September 20 with a train march from Karachi to Rohri and then to Multan, Rehman said. He said if relief was not provided, the party would continue its long march in the first week or first ten days of October.

A JI media statement quoted PM Shehbaz as telling Rehman he had already announced a relief package and would meet the JI chief and announce a better relief package after returning. Rehman warned that the government would be responsible if the situation worsened and said sit-ins and protest camps would continue.