JI ramps up pressure as protests continue

LAHORE:

JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has announced that his party will continue its sit-ins until the withdrawal of the petroleum levy, adding that the JI will unveil a plan for a nationwide shutter-down strike on August 27, a day after 12 Rabiul Awwal celebrations.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday on the eighth day of the protest at Lahore's Charing Cross and later meeting senior journalists and editors, Rehman said the party would expand its protest movement to different cities before moving towards Islamabad.

He said the existing sit-ins in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar would continue, while protest camps would be established in other cities. After the shutter-down and wheel-jam strike, the party would launch a "decisive march" towards Islamabad, he added.

"The movement will be prolonged and demanding, but it will be decisive," Rehman said, adding that the government would eventually have to approach the JI for negotiations.

He said the party had received an invitation for talks in Islamabad but ruled out negotiations behind closed doors while protests continued in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar.

"It cannot happen that sit-ins are held in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar while negotiations take place in closed rooms in Islamabad," he said, adding that any talks should address the concerns of the protesters and the public.

Rehman also ruled out joining any grand opposition alliance, saying the JI would contest the political space on its own and present the public's case from its own platform. "I believe such alliances have caused the JI more harm than benefit in the past," he said.

Criticising the petroleum levy, Rehman alleged that locally produced diesel was being sold at prices linked to imported diesel, allowing refineries to earn excessive profits.

He described the levy as "jagga tax"—extortion money—rather than a conventional tax and urged the media to expose what he called the government's "unjust" levy measures.

He rejected the government's claim that the protests were contributing to increases in petroleum prices, saying prices would have risen even further had the protests not taken place.

Rehman also criticised the government over sugar imports, alleging that authorities had allowed the import of 765,000 tonnes of sugar on the pretext of a shortage.

He said the JI's protests would remain peaceful and argued that a prolonged peaceful mobilisation could put greater pressure on the government than violent protests.

The JI chief said Milad gatherings and Seerat conferences would be held at protest sites on the night between 11 and 12 Rabiul Awwal. He said a major public gathering would also be held in Lahore, with delegations from different sections of society expected to participate.

"The party will announce its next course of action and further expansion of the protest movement on 13 Rabiul Awwal (August 27)," he added.

JI Punjab Central chief Javed Qasuri said the party would expand the protest to every district, neighbourhood and locality if the government failed to address public grievances.

He said the movement would continue until the levy was withdrawn and petrol prices were reduced to Rs220 per litre.

The head of the party's women wing, Samina Saeed, thanked women who participated in the Lahore sit-in.