Islamabad
Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Punjab Dr. Tariq Saleem has said that the government is imposing heavy taxes and levies on the people while the ruling elite continues to enjoy privileges and luxuries. He said that instead of reducing their own expenditures, the rulers are placing the burden of the economic crisis on ordinary citizens. Addressing participants of a sit-in protest held outside the Chief Minister’s House, Dr. Tariq Saleem said that sustained public pressure had forced the government to reduce the price of diesel by Rs. 32 per litre; otherwise, he claimed, the people would have faced an even greater burden.
He said the sit-ins were not merely protests but part of Jamaat-e-Islami’s continuing struggle for the rights of the people, adding that the campaign would continue until the demands of the public were accepted. He announced that, on the call of Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, a nationwide shutter-down and wheel-jam strike would be announced after 12 Rabi-ul-Awwal. Dr. Tariq Saleem alleged that the PML-N government had turned petroleum products, electricity and gas into sources of revenue by imposing excessive taxes and levies. He questioned why the ruling elite was unwilling to reduce its own privileges and luxury expenditures if the government was facing financial difficulties. He alleged that mafias had been extracting huge amounts from consumers by linking the price of imported diesel with the cost of locally produced diesel. He said that even during times of war and economic hardship, the government had continued to impose heavy taxes and levies on petroleum products, further increasing the difficulties faced by the public. Dr. Tariq Saleem criticized the governments of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, saying they had failed to provide meaningful relief to the people. He said young people, workers and ordinary citizens were bearing the burden of petroleum levies every day, with approximately Rs. 130 per litre in taxes on petrol, including a levy of around Rs. 80 per litre.
