JI accuses govt of 'picking pockets' through petroleum levy

Key Points:

JI workers collected signatures at camps in Hajveri Town, Islam Nagar and Station Chowk in PP-112
District emir Mian Tahir Ayub accused the government of picking the people’s pockets through illegitimate means
Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry warned of a long march if the government took no serious steps to give relief
The party demanded abolition of the Rs130 per litre levy and taxes on petroleum products

FAISALABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami workers collected signatures at camps in three PP-112 neighbourhoods of Faisalabad on Sunday against the petroleum levy.

According to the Jamaat-e-Islami media cell handout, the camps were set up in Hajveri Town, Islam Nagar and Station Chowk under the party’s three-day nationwide signature campaign launched on the call of its emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman.

Jamaat-e-Islami workers hold signature sheets at a campaign camp in Faisalabad

Jamaat-e-Islami workers with signature sheets at the PP-112 zone camp in Faisalabad

The handout said Prem Union chief organiser and zonal secretary Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry, Aslam Meraj, Yaseen Ansari, Riaz Hussain Shah, Hafiz Muhammad Arshad, Shakir Alvi and Dr Muhammad Arshad were also present.

Addressing the camps during his visit, newly elected district emir Mian Tahir Ayub said the government was picking the people’s pockets through illegitimate means and using delaying tactics over ending the levy.

He said the burden of the independent power producers and the petroleum levy had gone beyond the people’s endurance and the economy had ground to a halt.

Mr Ayub said the movement led by Hafiz Naeemur Rehman to end the levy extortion tax, make electricity cheaper and resolve other public demands would succeed, God willing.

He said the struggle was for the establishment of a just, fair and welfare system in Pakistan that would end inflation, unemployment, hunger and poverty for its 250 million people.

He said the struggle was for the establishment of a just, fair and welfare system in Pakistan that would end inflation, unemployment, hunger and poverty for its 250 million people.

Khalid Mahmood Chaudhry said it was the Jamaat-e-Islami’s protest over the levy and the independent power producers that was winning relief for the people.

He said peaceful public resistance and protest, made the vehicle for resolving public issues, would strengthen the political democratic tradition.

He warned that a long march would follow if the government did not take serious steps to give the people relief, adding that the government would bear full responsibility for the consequences.

Mr Chaudhry said the Jamaat-e-Islami had made every effort to settle the matter through negotiations.

He said the party’s protest was bringing the people relief and its target was lasting relief that would set the national economic wheel moving again.

He said lasting and real relief was possible only if the government abolished the Rs130 levy and taxes imposed on each litre of petroleum products.

He said the government should cut its own expenditure instead of putting more burden on the people and take practical steps to free the country of the interest-based system.

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