Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman announced on Tuesday that his party would temporarily halt its long march towards Islamabad after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested that the demonstration be postponed.
Thousands of JI supporters had departed Karachi by train on Sunday as part of the protest against rising fuel prices. The party has held sit-ins in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and other cities over the past month, demanding the withdrawal of the petroleum levy and greater economic relief for the public.
Prime Minister Shehbaz, currently in New York for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, spoke to Rehman on Tuesday and asked him to postpone the march, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. The premier said the government was already providing targeted assistance to people most affected by higher fuel costs through its fuel relief programme.
Addressing supporters in Multan, from where the march was expected to continue by road towards Islamabad, Rehman stressed that the protest had not been called off. Instead, participants would remain in Multan while awaiting a meeting with the prime minister following his return from New York.
“If the prime minister provides relief in the meeting, it will be welcome,” Rehman said. “If there is a delay, the long march will proceed forward.”
The JI chief said the party wanted to give the government an opportunity to provide relief to the public and maintained that it had no vested interest behind the protest.
Rehman also warned that the party remained prepared to resume its journey towards the capital.
“You should know that the plans that we have made, ABC, according to them we won’t be entering Islamabad from one place alone,” he said.
The government currently imposes taxes and duties amounting to Rs114 per litre on petrol and Rs100 per litre on diesel, according to the report. Petroleum prices have risen amid higher international oil prices linked to the US-Iran conflict and escalating Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia.
Separately, former prime minister Imran Khan’s PTI has announced plans for a protest march towards Islamabad on September 27, seeking Khan’s release from prison.
Authorities have stepped up security ahead of the planned demonstrations, including placing shipping containers around Islamabad’s Red Zone, which houses key government institutions and several foreign embassies.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has warned demonstrators against taking the law into their own hands.