Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan emir Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Wednesday said that the JI has no objection to the creation of administrative units in the provinces within the constitutional framework.
Speaking at a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq along with Karachi JI chief Monem Zafar, he however questioned PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari over election results in Karachi and also criticised both the PPP and MQM-P, urging them not to create divisions between Sindhi and Muhajir communities.
Rehman said the party’s nationwide shutter-down strike scheduled for September 3 would be “historic” and that the future course of action would be announced after the strike. He said options under consideration included a long march towards Islamabad, sit-ins in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, and expanding the protest movement across the country.
The JI chief reaffirmed his party’s resolve to continue its public campaign against what he described as the “extortionate” petroleum levy, the IPP mafia and rising inflation, saying the government would have to abolish the levy and cancel anti-people agreements with independent power producers.
He said sit-ins in the four provincial capitals had entered their 18th day, while the protest in Peshawar had spread to five locations. He added that a sit-in in Hyderabad had continued for 10 days and protests were also being held in interior districts and remote areas such as Chitral.
He said that public participation in the protests was increasing, while traders across the country, including Karachi, had announced unanimous and extraordinary support for the JI’s movement and the Sept 3 strike. Calling the petroleum levy and payments to IPPs a grave injustice to the public, he appealed to political workers from all parties, whether in government or opposition, to join the movement.
Rehman said that the JI’s campaign had raised public awareness about the manner in which governments were burdening ordinary citizens with taxes. He said that the government was collecting around Rs130 per litre in the form of the petroleum levy and other taxes, placing an unfair burden on ordinary people.
Meanwhile, the Sindh High Court Bar Association (SHCBA) and the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) on Wednesday announced holding a symbolic strike at courts on Thursday (today) in solidarity with the Jamaat-e-Islami’s countrywide shutter-down strike against petroleum levy.
Speaking at a lawyers convention at the JI’s sit-in held outside the Governor House, representatives of the SHCBA and the KBA announced that lawyers would observe a symbolic boycott of court proceedings and march to the Governor House in the afternoon.
JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar Khan thanked the legal fraternity for supporting the party’s campaign and the nationwide strike. He said the petroleum levy and the “extravagance” of the ruling elite are unacceptable, adding that the government had collected Rs1.566 trillion under the head of petroleum levy during the previous year.
He said that rising fuel prices and taxes have made life increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens, and called on the government to provide a realistic household budget based on the minimum wage of Rs43,000.
SHCBA President Haseeb Jamali said the legal fraternity stands with the public struggle against “unjust” taxation. He said the governor, as a representative of the federation, should convey to the federal government that the people of Karachi and Sindh have rejected the levy. He announced that lawyers would hold a rally and reach the Governor House today after observing a symbolic strike at courts.
KBA President Amir Nawaz Warraich said the petroleum levy is not a personal issue of the JI but a matter affecting the public at large. He said the KBA fully supports the cause, and lawyers would march from the high court parking area to the Governor House to express solidarity with the public campaign.
Several former and serving representatives of bar associations and the Sindh Bar Council, along with a large number of lawyers, attended the convention and expressed support for the planned strike and protest.
