Hafiz Naeem meets Shehbaz Sharif, demands petroleum levy be abolished

ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Ameer Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s House on Tuesday and demanded a complete end to the petroleum levy.

The government team at the meeting included Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Ali Pervaiz Malik, the Prime Minister’s special assistants and adviser Senator Rana Sanaullah and Ahad Cheema, and Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani. The Jamaat-e-Islami delegation included Deputy Ameer Liaquat Baloch, Deputy Secretary Syed Farasat Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Central Ameer Inayatullah Khan and Islamabad Ameer Nasrullah Randhawa.

Deadline and relief

At a crowded press conference after the meeting, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said the Prime Minister had asked for another seven to ten days so that committees from both sides could hold further talks on the scope and method of relief. Jamaat-e-Islami agreed to give the time on the condition that the government would not delay relief for the public any further.

The Prime Minister agreed that the scope of the relief package announced earlier would be widened so that more people could benefit. However, the government and Jamaat-e-Islami still differ on ending the petroleum levy. The government speaks of removing it in stages, while Jamaat-e-Islami demands that the tax be abolished completely.

Deputy Ameers Liaquat Baloch and Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Farasat Shah, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa North Ameer Inayatullah Khan and Islamabad Ameer Nasrullah Randhawa were also present at the press conference.

Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said bluntly that Jamaat-e-Islami would not consider the issue settled by a small cut of a few rupees or temporary relief for the public. Asked about government proposals to cut the levy by Rs20 to Rs25 or Rs30 per litre, he said the government might have many options, but the demand was clear: the levy should be abolished and a real cut in petroleum prices passed on to the public. He said Jamaat-e-Islami had given the government seven to ten days so that the path of talks stayed open and the reality of the government’s position also came out.

Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman made it clear that if the government gave the public proper relief, widened the package and made practical progress towards ending the petroleum levy, it would be better for the people. Otherwise, he said, Jamaat-e-Islami was ready to take to the streets and hold a full-scale protest.

Jamaat-e-Islami has not withdrawn from the Islamabad march. Preparations for the march will continue and it will definitely be held in mid-November. He said talks and protest would go on together and Jamaat-e-Islami would not postpone its Islamabad march now.

Alternative proposals and demands

Jamaat-e-Islami has also given the government alternative proposals for ending the petroleum levy. “Our preparation is complete, and detailed documents and economic data are available on this.”

Before coming to power, governments claim they will leave the IMF programme, not take loans and achieve economic independence. After taking office, he said, they go a step further in implementing IMF conditions. “We have made it clear to government representatives that the whole nation cannot be mortgaged economically, and the answer to every difficulty cannot be found in imposing new taxes on the people. The government should not take revenge for its incompetence on the nation.”

On the rise in petroleum prices, he said Jamaat-e-Islami had also raised the ups and downs in oil prices on the world market, as well as the profits of local refineries and the method of fixing prices. When prices rise on the world market, he said, the public should get relief instead of local refineries’ margins rising. The effects of global conditions and the war situation in the region were a fact, but even in these conditions the government should avoid putting an extra burden on the public.

Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said the government had to review its decisions several times because of Jamaat-e-Islami’s public movement. When the petroleum levy was raised from Rs80 to Rs160, Jamaat-e-Islami protested strongly and the government had to back down. Similarly, during the sit-ins the public also got relief of Rs32 per litre on diesel. Jamaat-e-Islami also raised the issue of setting uniform prices for locally refined oil and imported refined oil. He said Jamaat-e-Islami had raised public awareness, protested and put pressure on the government, and that this pressure would be increased further.

In reply to a question, he said Jamaat-e-Islami was holding talks with the government so that public problems could be solved. The talks would be with the government, which has the authority to take decisions and sign them. Jamaat-e-Islami was not in government but was playing the role of a real opposition and speaking for the people. “We are talking to the government and also protesting against its wrong policies. We want the issue to be resolved peacefully, because Pakistan cannot afford more political and economic instability.” All political parties should also support Jamaat-e-Islami on this public issue, he said.

He said the country faced serious problems not only over the petroleum levy but also in agriculture, wheat, cotton, LPG and gas. A wheat crisis was emerging, the cotton crop was shrinking and farmers were in great difficulty. There was a marked gap between the official price of LPG and the price charged in the market, while gas load shedding had also troubled the public. Jamaat-e-Islami was highlighting all these problems and would keep demanding that the government solve them.

Speaking about the Islamabad local government elections, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said the announcement of elections was welcome, but unfortunately the relevant Act had flaws that could open the way to horse-trading and the buying and selling of members. He said the government should hold local government elections on time and also make the necessary reforms in the election law so that the public could get real democratic representation.

He made it clear once again that Jamaat-e-Islami had given the government seven to ten days, but preparations for the Islamabad march would not stop in any case during this time. Rallies, corner meetings and the public contact campaign would be stepped up across the country. Jamaat-e-Islami’s demand stands that the petroleum levy be abolished, the scope of relief be widened and the public be freed from the scourge of inflation. He said the government still had time to give the public relief and save the country from a new protest movement.

Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman said Jamaat-e-Islami had presented its clear and firm position to the Prime Minister and the government team on the economic difficulties facing the public, petroleum prices, the petroleum levy and every aspect of inflation. The Jamaat-e-Islami committee once again placed before government representatives a detailed presentation of public hardships and its demands.

He said the people of Pakistan were under the worst economic pressure at present. Inflation had made life miserable for the common man, earning two meals a day had become hard, and the middle class was on the brink of ruin. The cost of children’s education, electricity and gas bills, transport and petroleum prices had made life hard for people.

He said the government was collecting about Rs150 billion a month through the petroleum levy, while the package announced to give the public relief was only Rs26 billion. Even if it was accepted as Rs32 billion after the government’s clarification, it was a very small amount against Rs150 billion. This meant the government was collecting Rs150 billion from the public and returning only Rs32 billion. About 70 per cent of the burden of this levy is borne by the poor and middle classes, amounting to more than Rs100 billion a month, but the government’s relief package was not a real solution to their difficulties.