Pakistan government invites Jamaat-e-Islami to new talks — Dawn
In Pakistan, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal invited the Jamaat-e-Islami party to a new round of talks over its demand to abolish the levy on petroleum products. As Dawn reports, on Friday, September 18, Iqbal contacted the party’s deputy emir, Liaqat Baloch.
According to Jamaat-e-Islami, the minister proposed that a party delegation led by Baloch hold talks on Saturday. Baloch said he would respond after consulting the party leader and its leadership. He also stressed that the protest movement would continue until the authorities abolish the levy on petroleum products.
Previous talks
The government’s new contact with the party came after several rounds of negotiations. Initially, a government delegation arrived in Mansura, Lahore, to invite Jamaat-e-Islami to dialogue. This was followed by four more rounds of talks in Islamabad, the last of which took place on September 16.
The government approached the party amid its preparations for a nationwide march on Islamabad, scheduled to begin on September 20. Jamaat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said the aim of the action was to secure immediate economic relief for the population.
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Party demands
Rehman claims that the fiscal changes proposed by the party could save the state treasury from 3 trillion to 4 trillion Pakistani rupees. He called for the policy rate to be cut by three percentage points, saying that a one-point reduction would make it possible to save approximately 574 billion rupees.
Jamaat-e-Islami’s demands include abolishing the levy on petroleum products, ending unproductive capacity payments to independent power producers and regasification companies, and setting the price of petrol at 225 rupees per litre. Rehman said march participants would arrive in the capital from Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, with a separate group travelling by train from Karachi.
According to the party leader, the march will be financed by the participants themselves, and its organizers do not plan to block roads or disrupt the city’s daily life.
