Addressing a press briefing on Tuesday, the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan Hafiz Naeemur Rehman declared that his party is to step up its protest on inflation as well as high electricity bills. The first activity constitutes a protest sit-in outside the Governor’s House in Karachi.
Rehman while speaking at a press conference said that the sit-ins will be taken to Lahore and Multan in the next phase to oppose the agreements between the government and the independent power producers IPPs which have caused high electricity tariffs.
The sit-in at Liaquat Bagh, Rawalpindi has been continuing even for the fifth day while the government team could not come for a second round of negotiation which was scheduled for Monday.
This decision came a day after Rehman threatened that the sit-in, would extend to other areas of the country in case the government failed to meet the party’s demands.
In the day that was on Sunday, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar Amir Muqam and Tariq Fazal Chaudhry of PML-N met the JI negotiation committee head Liaquat Baloch at Commissioner Rawalpindi office to negotiate on this point of disagreement.
JI has enumerated ten conditions for the pulling out of their protest, of which the issue of inflation and electricity tariff increase is pivotal. These include:
- Cutting of the Petroleum Development Levy and cancelation of the latest hikes in prices.
- Food price subsidies of up to 20%, subsidies to electricity and gas tariffs.
- Amendments in the contracts signed with IPPs.
- Scrapping the clause that provided for payments for IPPs in US Dollars.
- A 50% discount on power consumers classifications that consume up to 500 units of power.
- Cuts on taxes or other tributes based on legal and constitutional measures for the agricultural and industrial sectors by half.
- Offering some inducements to the industrial division to help create jobs.
- Reversing recent tax hikes on the working population, and Enacting taxes on the elite group of society.
- Reduction of all non-development expenses by thirty-five percent.
- Revoking all taxes and charges that were previously placed on stationery and other educational requirements. Rehman expressed his anger at the new government about inflation and the existing policy situation for trade. For instance, he wanted an audit to be conducted on the IPPs and come up with a reduction in electricity prices and threatened to give the government two days to have the demands met. JI chief also underscored that the protest will go on until these issues have been solved by the government.