ISLAMABAD: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan Chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, on Wednesday, called for sweeping economic reforms, including income tax relief for salaried individuals, substantial reductions in electricity, gas, and fuel prices, and the termination of costly Independent Power Producer (IPP) and re-gasification agreements.
Hafiz Naeem said this while addressing a seminar titled “Budget, Economy and Energy: From Crisis to Solutions”, attended by economists, energy experts, tax specialists, and others.
He urged the government to use the upcoming budget to provide immediate relief to the middle class and fix utility prices for the next several years.
He demanded the abolition of income tax on monthly salaries up to Rs125,000 and a 50 percent reduction in tax rates for higher-income salaried groups. He also urged the government to reduce electricity and gas tariffs and bring petrol prices down to Rs230 per litre.
Slamming Pakistan’s tax structure, JI chief termed it oppressive, saying that Rs12 trillion out of the country’s annual Rs18 trillion tax revenue was collected through direct and indirect taxes paid by ordinary citizens. He said the salaried class alone contributes Rs605 billion annually in income tax while consumers continue to bear heavy petroleum levies and utility taxes.
“The government is squeezing the common man while paying around Rs2 trillion annually to IPP owners,” he said, adding that expensive energy contracts were a major burden on the national economy.
Hafiz Naeem said that a forensic audit of IPP agreements would expose massive irregularities involving both current and former rulers. He further criticised re-gasification contracts, saying that payments continued even during periods when gas supplies remained suspended. Warning against reported plans for additional power purchase agreements, he said his party would oppose any move to sign further contracts for 26,000 megawatts of electricity generation.
The JI chief also called for the immediate commencement of work on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, expansion of education spending, strengthening of local governments, taxation of large landowners, and greater support for small farmers.
Hafiz Naeem also criticised widespread corruption in the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), saying that despite years of spending, poverty levels had increased significantly over the past two years. He further said that Pakistan doesn’t need BISP-like programmes but skill development, artificial intelligence (AI), quality educational, and health-related programmes, adding that the BISP, instead of reducing poverty, has resulted in increasing the poverty levels in the country over the past two decades.
He further argued that Pakistan’s education budget, currently around 1.7 percent of GDP, should be increased to at least 4 to 5 percent of the GDP. Expressing concern over the country’s education crisis, he said nearly 27.5 million children remain out of school nationwide, including around 10 million in Punjab alone.
Responding to questions from journalists, Hafiz Naeem criticised the government’s privatisation policy and reiterated JI’s opposition to the sale of national institutions. He said the party had prepared a comprehensive policy paper proposing alternatives to privatisation.
He also called for reforms to the pension system, saying all state institutions, including the judiciary and military, should be subject to the same standards of accountability. While opposing cuts to defence spending, he suggested reviewing administrative expenditures within the military budget.
Hafiz Naeem said his party’s economic agenda includes eliminating interest-based financing, strengthening the zakat system, investing in education, and promoting vocational training for youth. He maintained that only a people-centred economic model could steer Pakistan out of its recurring fiscal and energy crises.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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