LAHORE(National Times)- Jamaat-i-Islami chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Saturday ruled out meeting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif without a commitment to abolish the petroleum levy, warning that the party would announce a date for its Islamabad march after Oct 12 if the government failed to provide relief.
Addressing a press conference at Mansoorah, the JI chief said statements by ministers suggested that the levy would not be abolished. “If the petroleum levy is not abolished, we have no desire to meet the prime minister,” he said.
The premier had sought a meeting with the JI chief after asking the party to suspend its protest march against the levy till then. While Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal conveyed the PM’s message to JI vice chief Liaqat Baloch earlier this week to arrange the meeting, Mr Rehman said talks would serve no purpose without an assurance about the acceptance of JI’s demand.
The JI chief demanded meaningful relief for consumers and urged the government to take steps to reap benefit from Saudi Arabia’s reported $5-per-barrel reduction in oil prices for Asian countries.
He said the party had staged sit-ins for 42 days against the levy and was continuing its nationwide public meetings and signature campaign. A public meeting is scheduled in Okara today (Sunday).
Rejecting the government’s argument that it was constrained by the IMF, Mr Rehman questioned whether similar constraints applied to official spending on luxuries such as an aircraft worth Rs11 billion.
On Punjab, Mr Rehman blamed “four decades of family rule” for problems in education and agriculture. He claimed 11,000 schools had been sold and another 25,000 were reportedly listed for sale.
He also cited rising agricultural costs, saying the price of a 50kg bag of DAP fertiliser had gone up by Rs3,000. Farmers had received Rs3,000 per maund for wheat, while flour prices had exceeded Rs6,000 per maund and wheat prices had crossed Rs5,000 per maund, he added.
Citing poverty estimates, he said the World Bank had put Pakistan’s poverty rate at 23 per cent, while the rate exceeded 40pc under the country’s own criteria. He said Punjab had recorded the largest increase in poverty over the past five years.
