SWABI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Central head Abdul Wasi on Tuesday expressed hope that the countrywide strike on September 3 against the petroleum levy, inflation, electricity and gas crises, agricultural problems and the growing economic burden on the people would be successful.
Addressing a press conference at the Swabi Press Club, he said the strike had been announced on the call of JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman. He added that various traders’ organisations in Swabi had assured him of their support for the protest.
Abdul Wasi said a strike was a constitutional and democratic right of the people, who were justified in raising their voice when the rulers failed to address their problems. He expressed confidence that the September 3 strike would receive widespread support.
The government, he said, had set a target of collecting Rs1,676 billion through the petroleum levy during the current fiscal year, arguing that the levy provided no relief to the people and instead increased their financial burden. He urged the government to cut its own expenditures and privileges rather than imposing additional taxes and levies on the public. The JI leader said the party’s protest and sit-in campaign was continuing across the country, with demonstrations being held in around 18 to 19 districts from Chitral to Karachi.
He criticised the increase in salaries and privileges of members of the National Assembly and Senate, saying the poor and working class were struggling with inflation while the ruling elite continued to receive additional benefits.
On the electricity crisis, Abdul Wasi said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was a major power-producing province, with projects such as Tarbela generating electricity, yet people in some areas were facing up to 22 hours of load-shedding.He said the province’s electricity requirement was around 2,400 megawatts and that supplying power according to its requirement could largely resolve the issue.
