Karachi [Pakistan], July 1 : Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) head Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday announced a protest in Islamabad on July 12 against "high taxes and exorbitant electricity tariff", Pakistan-based daily, Dawn reported.
The JI announced its Haq Do Awam Ko (give rights to the masses) movement in a post on X, adding that Rehman would lead the rally.
The post said, "Protest against heavy taxes and expensive electricity July 12, Friday-Islamabad. Amir Jamaat-e-Islami Hafiz Naeemur Rahman will lead #JIDharna_Islamabad".
President Asif Ali Zardari assented to the government's tax-heavy Finance Bill 2024 for the new fiscal year on Sunday. The government presented the budget two weeks ago, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties, especially the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, as well as coalition ally Pakistani People's Party.
Rehman said that the JI could not see the people suffer under such a "circus", Dawn reported.
He said the government and the ruling classes were not ready to abandon their perks and privileges but had no problems pushing the nation into "a greater difficulty". Rehman added that the tax burden was falling on the salaried classes while landowners and the elite were "exempted".
"We think all these issues need to be dealt with genuinely," he said, adding that the party's leadership from all over the country decided after consultation to hold a grand rally in Islamabad on July 12, Dawn reported.
"This protest rally will be for a decrease in the electricity bills and taxes," he said. "The privileged sector will have to reduce its perks and the per unit power price will have to be reduced and this system of taxes will need to be eliminated."
Rehman claimed that 119 per cent of professionals had left the country compared to the previous year because of economic malaise in the past two years. "If they leave, who will run the country?" he asked.
He said the party was also holding a consultation on a call for a strike and appealed to traders, industrialists and the salaried class to join the party's movement.
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