Jamaat-e-Islami threatens march on Islamabad on September 20 — Dawn
Pakistan’s Jamaat-e-Islami party said it would begin a “super-long march” to Islamabad on September 20 if the government does not meet its demands, including the complete abolition of the levy on petroleum products. The party’s emir, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, announced this during a rally of participants in the party’s protest action in Lahore, Dawn reports.
Convoys from different regions
According to Rehman, convoys from Karachi, Quetta, Chitral, Kalam, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Punjab and other parts of Pakistan are expected to head to the capital. A separate group of protesters, he claimed, will travel by train from Karachi through Multan and Lahore to Islamabad.
The party had previously named September 20 as the date for the march on Islamabad. The new statement was made after 33 days of Jamaat-e-Islami protests and sit-ins against the levy on petroleum products in several cities across the country.
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Negotiations with the government
Rehman said the lengthy campaign had drawn public attention to economic problems. He also said that the movement does not aim to protect the interests of an individual person or political party, but raises issues that, according to him, concern broad segments of the population.
According to the Jamaat-e-Islami leader, the party’s negotiating team held four rounds of talks with the government. He said government representatives explained the retention of the levy on petroleum products by citing the position of the International Monetary Fund. Rehman insisted on abolishing the levy and warned of an intensification of the protest movement if the demand is not met.
