JI talks at table, turns heat on streets

A government team sat across the table with a Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) delegation on Monday for the first round of talks on the petroleum levy and inflation, as party Amir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announced a train march towards Islamabad as part of the ongoing protest campaign.

A JI delegation reached the Ministry of Planning to hold talks with the government over the petroleum levy, with the first round of negotiations between the two sides completed. The second round will be held on Thursday.

According to Express News, the JI delegation was led by the party's Deputy Amir Liaquat Baloch and included Syed Farast Shah, Nasrullah Randhawa, Inayatullah Khan, Ziauddin Ansari Advocate, Naveed Ali Baig and Shahid Naeem.

The government's negotiating team was led by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and included Rana Sanaullah Khan, Ali Pervaiz Malik and Bilal Azhar Kayani. The talks were held at the Planning Ministry, following which both sides held a joint media talk.

The JI is holding protests in different cities against escalating fuel prices and inflation. Last week, the government approached the JI, and both sides agreed to hold technical-level talks following widespread protests and strikes.

Iqbal told reporters on Monday that the government had invited the JI for talks and asked it to present its proposals. He added that economies around the world had been affected by the war in Iran and that the government was forced to take certain measures.

"The government never wants to put a burden on the people. Jamaat-e-Islami has given us its proposals and we will review them," Iqbal said, adding that if any proposal were found to be impractical, the government would also convey this to the JI.

Baloch said the party had forwarded six proposals to the government. "We have handed our proposals over to the government team," he said, adding that the government team had also been informed that the party's sit-in and protest would continue. He said the first round of talks had been held in a pleasant atmosphere.

In Lahore earlier, JI Amir Hafiz Naeem announced a train march towards Islamabad as part of the party's protest campaign, warning the government that it could also launch a nationwide wheel-jam and shutter-down strike if its demands were not addressed.

Addressing a press conference at the party's sit-in outside the Punjab Assembly on the 23rd day of the ongoing protest, JI Amir Naeem warned that the protest campaign would expand if the government failed to provide relief to the public.