JI vows to continue sit-in until petroleum levy abolished

Jamaat-i-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has vowed to maintain a sit-in against the petroleum levy and soaring fuel prices until the government agrees to their demands. Speaking to protesters outside the Punjab Chief Minister's House, Rehman denounced the levy as "extortionist" and criticized the government for raising both petrol prices and taxes.

He accused the ruling elite of extracting money from ordinary citizens rather than making spending cuts or recovering taxes from the wealthy. Rehman rejected a proposed government committee for talks, stating that the party did not need a briefing from officials. He urged those interested in discussion to join the sit-in directly.

Rehman claimed that previous governments led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz had failed, alleging that they "destroyed" the entire system. He announced that the JI had entered a second phase of its mass campaign after protests at 510 locations on August 7. Major sit-ins had begun at Governor House offices in Karachi and Peshawar, with large crowds gathering at Lahore's historic protest site on The Mall.

Rehman characterized the struggle as a fight against injustice, inflation, and anti-people policies, not against any specific political party. He criticized the government's class-based education system and accused it of raising fuel prices and taxes to force people into paying thousands of rupees in fuel-related taxes each month.

Rehman rejected the government's claim that the levy was part of an IMF program, insisting the ruling class should cut its own expenditures and taxes instead. He reiterated demands for a reduced petrol price of Rs225 per liter and the levy's abolition. Rehman also lambasted the Punjab government's publicity spending. He vowed that the JI would continue its struggle for fundamental changes to the system, fighting for the people against oppression.