Jamaat-e-Islami leader refuses meeting without pledge to abolish levy — Dawn

In Pakistan, Jamaat-e-Islami party leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said he would not meet Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif without a government commitment to abolish the levy on petroleum products. If the authorities do not provide relief to consumers after October 12, the party will announce the date of a march on Islamabad, Dawn reports.

Condition for talks

At a press conference in Mansura, Lahore, Rehman said ministers’ statements indicated that the government did not plan to abolish the levy. According to him, talks would make no sense without assurances that the party’s demand would be accepted.

Earlier, the prime minister requested a meeting with the Jamaat-e-Islami leader and urged the party to suspend its protest march against the levy until then. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal this week conveyed Sharif’s proposal to the party’s deputy leader, Liaquat Baloch, to arrange a meeting.

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Party demands

Rehman demanded that the government provide tangible relief to consumers. He also called on the authorities to use Saudi Arabia’s reported reduction of oil prices for Asian countries by $5 per barrel.

According to the politician, the party held sit-in protests against the levy for 42 days and continues nationwide rallies and a signature-collection campaign. A public event was scheduled in Okara for Sunday.

Rehman rejected the government’s argument about IMF restrictions and asked whether such restrictions also apply to government spending on luxury items, including an aircraft worth 11 billion Pakistani rupees. He also said that farmers’ costs were rising, fertilizers were becoming more expensive, and cited his own assessments of poverty and education in Punjab.