Hafiz Naeemur Rehman announces nationwide strike in September

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has announced plans to intensify the party’s protest movement against petroleum levy and rising inflation.

Speaking to the media in Lahore, Hafiz Naeem said protest camps had been set up at various locations across the country and announced that he would unveil the next phase of the protest movement later tonight.

He said the party would give a call for a countrywide strike on 13 Rabi-ul-Awwal, with the strike planned for the first week of September.

“We have no personal agenda; we have taken to the streets to raise issues affecting the people,” Hafiz Naeem said, adding that the burden of an “incompetent ruling class” was being borne by Pakistan’s poor.

Criticising the government’s economic policies, he claimed that the government had allowed wheat exports, which had subsequently contributed to an increase in wheat prices in the domestic market.

He said those sitting within the system had failed to provide relief to the public, while there was still no clear account of wheat imported during the caretaker government’s tenure.

Hafiz Naeem also criticised the lack of relief for consumers following a reduction in diesel prices. He questioned the continued collection of the petroleum levy, saying it had no connection with petroleum products.

The JI chief further accused the ruling elite of refusing to cut their lavish privileges.

Referring to alleged government spending, he claimed that Maryam Nawaz had purchased an aircraft worth Rs11 billion, while the Senate chairman had acquired vehicles worth millions of rupees.

Hafiz Naeem warned that if the government failed to abolish the levy, his party would begin staging sit-ins on the roads.