JI Sets Sept 20 Islamabad March Over PDL, Warns of Move to Oust Govt

Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has announced a march on Islamabad on September 20 against the Petroleum Development Levy (PDL).

Speaking at a rally in Gujranwala on Friday, Rehman said JI supporters would travel to Islamabad in caravans from across the country. He warned that the party’s protest movement would enter a “decisive phase” if the government did not remove the levy.

“If the petroleum levy is still in place when the long march begins, the people will decide the matter on the streets of Islamabad,” Rehman said.

He also warned that the JI could launch a campaign to bring down the government if public demands were not met.

The federal government currently imposes Rs114 per litre in taxes and duties on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel.

JI sit-ins against the levy have continued for 27 days in Lahore, Peshawar, Karachi and other areas. Rehman said the protests would be expanded and announced that he would address a women’s gathering in Islamabad on Saturday.

Earlier, he chaired a meeting of JI leaders in Lahore to discuss the next phase of the protest campaign.

Rehman said JI had emerged as a political force and a source of hope for people frustrated with successive governments. He criticized the country’s bureaucracy, feudal landlords and powerful families, saying ordinary people were facing the consequences.

He also criticized the Punjab government over violence against women and questioned the handling of such cases in the province.

Rehman challenged Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to provide a complete account of her income and expenditure to the Federal Board of Revenue following her comments about paying for a London trip on a government aircraft herself.

On the petroleum levy, Rehman claimed the government had collected Rs1,567 billion through the charge. He questioned the need for what he called a “jagga tax” while millions of Pakistanis still lacked proper access to healthcare and education.

He also criticized government policies related to independent power producers and called for a reduction in government spending instead of imposing more taxes on citizens.

The JI chief further called for an end to interest-based financial practices and said reducing interest payments could save the national exchequer billions of rupees.

Rehman said the party had raised these issues during talks with the government but had not received satisfactory answers.

“If the rulers cannot answer the people’s questions, the people will now demand those answers themselves,” he said.

The JI announced on August 16 that it would hold sit-ins in all provincial capitals against the petroleum levy. The party later called a nationwide strike for September 3.