Punjab sit-ins to continue until demands are met: JI emir

LAHORE: Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan (JI) leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman declared on Sunday that the JI’s protest against the petroleum levy and escalating fuel costs will persist until the government agrees to their demands, threatening that any attempt to disrupt the protest could escalate into a movement to topple the government. Speaking to protesters gathered outside the Punjab Chief Minister’s House on The Mall, Rehman labeled the petroleum levy as "extortionist" and "jagga tax," alleging that the government continues to raise both petrol prices and the taxes on them.

He urged the ruling authorities to reduce their own expenses and privileges rather than burdening ordinary citizens with additional taxes. On Sunday, JI initiated a wave of nationwide protests and sit-ins in Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, and Quetta, intensifying their ongoing fight against inflation, soaring fuel prices, and the federal petroleum levy.

In Lahore, party activists marched along The Mall before setting up a sit-in encampment at Charing Cross near the Chief Minister’s residence. Addressing the assembly with Punjab JI Chief Javed Qasuri, Rehman criticized the government’s taxation policies, highlighting the disparity between the high taxes imposed on salaried individuals—paying around Rs700 billion—and the tax exemptions granted to wealthy landowners.

Requiring an immediate cut in petrol prices to Rs225 per liter, Naeem stated that the party would no longer accept a system that preys on ordinary citizens to preserve the privileges of the ruling elite. Simultaneous sit-ins across major provincial capitals across the nation paralyzed vital government institutions. In Karachi, demonstrators led by JI Karachi Chief Munim Zafar marched to the Governor’s residence to organize a large-scale demonstration.

Zafar addressed the crowd, urging authorities to refrain from using force and lambasting the petroleum levy for disproportionately affecting students and the youth, while targeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif over unaddressed local issues like Karachi’s severe water shortage. In Peshawar, protesters blocked the primary road connecting Saddar to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Chowk, halting traffic before a rally by JI Deputy Emir Liaquat Baloch.

A parallel sit-in had also formed outside the Governor’s House in Quetta. These synchronized provincial demonstrations reflect the JI’s most recent intensification of their anti-inflation campaign, seeking to compel the federal government to retract energy taxes, lower fuel costs, and limit excessive state spending.