Summary Jamaat-e-Islami chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman has announced a nationwide shutter-down strike after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal if the government fails to reduce petroleum prices and accept its demands.
LAHORE (Dunya News) – Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman has announced a nationwide shutter-down strike after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal over the petroleum levy, saying the government will have to reduce petroleum prices.
Addressing a press conference in Lahore, Hafiz Naeem said their struggle was progressing in the best possible manner and stressed that the government would have to reduce the prices of petroleum products.
He said the country could not progress in the presence of flour and sugar mafias, urging the people to come forward and become part of their struggle. He also said farmers were not getting fertilizers at affordable prices, while government officials were using expensive vehicles with taxpayers’ money.
The Jamaat-e-Islami chief said they would hold a nationwide strike after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal, adding that negotiations would no longer take place on the basis of assurances to end the sit-in. He said the sit-in would only end when the government practically accepted their demands.
Hafiz Naeem further said the petroleum levy, which he termed a form of extortion tax, should not be imposed under any circumstances and the government would have to reduce petrol prices.
He warned that if their demands were not accepted, they would also march towards Islamabad, saying no one could stop them and no Jamaat-e-Islami worker would hesitate to make sacrifices.
It may be recalled that Jamaat-e-Islami has been staging sit-ins outside governors’ houses across the country against the petroleum levy, with the protests entering their eighth day today.
