PESHAWAR: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Amir Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman on Sunday welcomed the defence agreement reached in Makkah, termed it a positive development and expressed hope that Iran and other Muslim countries also join the pact.
Addressing a press conference at Al-Markazi Islami, he said greater cooperation among Muslim countries was needed to counter forces that, according to him, wanted to keep them under pressure.
He also expressed concern over the security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and urged the government to take practical steps to restore peace. He said providing education and employment opportunities to young people could help prevent them from becoming involved in violence.
The JI chief also called for talks with Afghanistan to restore bilateral trade. He said the Afghan government should ensure that its territory was not used for terrorist activities against Pakistan. He proposed exchanges of delegations between the two countries and suggested forming a jirga comprising traders and tribal elders from both sides of the border. Such a forum, he said, could help promote cross-border trade and contribute to maintaining peace along the border.
Hafiz Naeem criticised the government over high petroleum prices, saying the continued increase was putting an additional burden on ordinary citizens. He claimed that the government had collected around Rs8,000 billion through the petroleum levy but had not used the money to establish an oil refinery.
According to Hafiz Naeem, the government had also failed to develop a workable plan to refine crude oil locally, while consumers continued to pay higher prices for petroleum products. He demanded the abolition of the petroleum levy and taxes on fuel and called for petrol and diesel prices to be reduced to Rs225 per litre.
Referring to the JI’s August 7 protest, Hafiz Naeem said the demonstration remained peaceful and argued that organised public protests could influence national politics. The JI leader also criticised the country’s electricity policies and called for a review of agreements and policies that, he said, were increasing the financial burden on ordinary citizens.
Hafiz Naeem further claimed that tax exemptions worth $17 billion were benefiting wealthy groups while the cost was being passed on to the public. He announced that the JI would hold another protest on September 16 outside governor houses and chief minister residences across the country.
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