Jamaat-e-Islami began simultaneous sit-ins in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta against the petroleum levy, fuel prices and inflation (Geo News).
In Lahore, workers marched along Mall Road to Faisal Chowk, near the Chief Minister’s House, where the sit-in continued. Punjab JI chief Javed Qasuri took part and party emir Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman joined the protest.
His language sharpened considerably. He described the petroleum levy as an “extortion tax” and a “jagga tax” — the term for money extracted by local strongmen — and asked how many landlords associated with the PML-N had paid tax on their agricultural land. He said the salaried class had paid around Rs700 billion in taxes, and questioned how the burden was distributed. “There is a group imposed on us,” he said, accusing landlords of exploiting poor farmers and saying the feudal system would not continue.
He repeated the party’s central demand: “Bring the price of petrol down to Rs225.”
In Karachi, workers marched from across the city to Governor House, where JI Karachi chief Monem Zafar addressed them from a makeshift stage on a truck. Police were deployed around the building, with authorities saying the road from Fawara Chowk towards the Press Club and Arts Council remained open.
Zafar warned the Sindh government against clearing the sit-in by force. “If the government chooses the path of violence and force, it will be responsible for the consequences,” he said, insisting the protest would continue. He said young people and students were effectively paying around Rs130 a litre in petroleum levy, and criticised Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s recent visit to Karachi, saying he arrived with a large protocol convoy but did not resolve the city’s water crisis.
In Peshawar, a sit-in outside Governor House closed the road between Saddar and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Chowk, with deputy emir Liaquat Baloch due to address it. Quetta held a fourth.
The protests are the next phase of a campaign that put demonstrations and road blockades at hundreds of locations on August 7. The party’s case has firmer ground this week: official figures show the levy raised a record Rs1.567 trillion in 2025-26, up 29 per cent, while diesel is 34 per cent dearer than a year ago and short-term inflation is running at 9.11 per cent.
