Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday announced a nationwide blockade of major highways on August 7 as part of the party’s campaign against inflation, rising fuel prices and the petroleum levy.
Addressing a press conference at the party’s headquarters in Mansoorah, Lahore, Rehman said the protest would be preceded by corner meetings, sit-ins and a nationwide mobilisation campaign.
He said traders, industrialists, lawyers, students, religious scholars and youth would participate in the demonstrations, with major roads in all four provinces and district headquarters to be blocked.
Rehman said the protest would remain peaceful and that ambulances and emergency vehicles would be allowed to pass. He warned that any attempt by the government to stop the demonstrations could escalate the movement into a broader anti-government campaign.
The announcement comes days after the government introduced a daily fuel pricing mechanism, under which the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) revises petroleum prices based on the seven-day average of international oil prices.
Criticising the policy, the JI chief accused the government of using regional conflict as a justification for increasing fuel prices, arguing that the petroleum levy and related taxes were unrelated to international hostilities.
He claimed that if the petroleum levy and other taxes were abolished, the price of petrol should not exceed Rs250 per litre.
Rehman also criticised the government’s decision to allow OGRA to notify fuel prices on a daily basis, alleging that the regulator had no legal connection to the petroleum levy. He claimed the government collects around Rs1.8 trillion annually through the levy, placing an unfair burden on motorcyclists, labourers and the middle class.