Jamaat-e-Islami staged nationwide protests against inflation, fuel prices, the petroleum levy and taxes, with demonstrations, sit-ins and rallies disrupting traffic on major highways and roads in several cities (Geo News).
Party chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, addressing workers in Lahore, announced what he described as “historic” sit-ins outside Governor Houses in all four provinces. He called on supporters to march towards Lahore on August 9 and said the party would proceed to the Chief Minister’s House and stage a sit-in there.
He demanded that the petrol price be cut to Rs225 a litre, that the petroleum levy be abolished and that taxes be lowered. He said the government had collected Rs8 trillion through the petroleum levy, and accused it of concealing incompetence and corruption. He also said several party workers had been arrested and demanded their release.
His central charge was on the pass-through: that the authorities raised petrol prices and taxes but failed to pass on the benefit to the public when international oil prices fell. That argument has a specific referent this week. The petroleum levy on diesel was raised twice in two days — by Rs1.44 on Thursday and Rs1.21 on Friday, taking it from Rs70.82 to Rs73.47 a litre — while the pump price fell by Rs3.50 over the same period, absorbing much of the decline in international prices before it reached consumers.
The disruption was extensive. In Karachi, traffic police reported congestion on both carriageways between Lasbela Chowk and Numaish Chowrangi, on roads linking Tibet Centre with Numaish Chowrangi, and between Numaish and Shahrah-e-Quaideen. Workers blocked the National Highway at Matiari in both directions, causing long queues on the Karachi-Punjab route. There were rallies in Tando Allahyar, a sit-in at DC Chowk in Makli in Thatta, a sit-in on Rustam Road in Shikarpur affecting the highways connecting Kashmore, Jacobabad and Sukkur, and a protest at Hyder Chowk in Hyderabad.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, protesters blocked traffic at Fawara Chowk in Abbottabad, disrupted the main Peshawar-Bajaur highway in Bajaur, and blocked the Peshawar Motorway toll plaza. In Balochistan, the party blocked the Peshawar-Chaman-Punjab highway at Kuchlak and the Jacobabad road in the Dasht area of Mastung, with further demonstrations in Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, Sohbatpur and Kachhi; a sit-in at the main chowk in Nasirabad closed the Sindh-Balochistan National Highway. At Bela, a sit-in at Bela Cross closed the N-25.
In Punjab, Sangam Chowk in Dera Ghazi Khan — which links all four provinces — was closed, a sit-in at Pul 47 disrupted traffic in Sargodha, and a rally ran from Liaquat Bagh to Committee Chowk in Rawalpindi. In Islamabad, workers gathered at Golra Mor and marched towards 26 Number Chungi, joined by senior leader Liaquat Baloch.
Protesters dispersed peacefully and traffic returned to normal in the affected areas.
