Jamaat-e-Islami held countrywide protests on July 10 against the petroleum levy, fuel prices, and inflation, with JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman leading the campaign and calling the government’s recent Rs1.97 per litre petrol price reduction “shameful” and “a joke” (Express Tribune; Pakistan Today; Dawn).
Rehman said the government was collecting approximately Rs118 per litre in taxes and levies on petrol — a figure that encompasses the petroleum development levy, general sales tax, and other charges — while cutting the consumer price by less than Rs2 per litre. “This is not relief,” he said. “This is mockery.” JI made a specific appeal to young Pakistanis to join the protests, citing youth unemployment and inflation as structural failures of the current government’s economic management.
The LPG crisis
A recurring JI demand is action on liquefied petroleum gas, which approximately 30 million Pakistani households use for cooking. The officially notified LPG price stands at Rs241 per kilogramme; actual market prices in many areas are running at Rs500 per kilogramme or higher, with persistent supply shortages driving consumers to black-market purchases. Prolonged gas load-shedding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has worsened the gap between official and market pricing.
The government has not publicly responded to the Rs500/kg market price claim. The petroleum ministry’s position has been that LPG prices are regulated at the cylinder level and that regional price variations reflect logistics and distribution margin issues rather than government policy.
Broader energy politics
JI’s framing — high taxes on essential fuels imposed on ordinary consumers while industrial and agricultural interests receive preferential treatment — has resonated in a political environment where RLNG prices have risen 73% since February, petrol remains above Rs297 per litre, and electricity tariffs have climbed due to fuel cost pass-through. The party has positioned itself as the primary voice of consumer energy grievances since the government’s coalition of PML-N, PPP and coalition partners has not produced a major fiscal relief package on energy.
The July 10 OGRA petrol price revision — due tonight — is expected to keep prices unchanged at Rs297.53/litre given modest recent global oil price movements.
