KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday demanded that the government lower the interest rate, release political prisoners, particularly detained Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) women, and take action against, what he alleged, was Rs1,300 billion corruption in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
He also criticized the government’s economic policies, demanded abolition of the petroleum levy and warned that the JI’s peaceful approach should not be mistaken for weakness, saying the party would not back down from the rights of the people under any circumstances.
Addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-e-Haq, he said people had witnessed JI’s street power, but the relief achieved through its struggle was still insufficient. “The government considers monthly relief of Rs25-30 billion a great achievement. It will have to abolish the petroleum levy — extortion tax,” he said.
He said that the JI had paused its long march on the prime minister’s assurance but had not withdrawn from its protest, which continued across the country on Monday. Referring to a recent public meeting in Lahore, he said the government had tried to stop the gathering by surrounding the venue with containers, but a large public meeting was held nevertheless.
He said that a signature campaign had now been formally launched across the country, while protest camps and rallies were also being organised. The party, he added, remained committed to its basic demands and the government had no option but to address them. On the political situation, Naeemur Rehman said that Pakistan was facing a chaotic situation while the real problems of the people were being ignored. He said JI fully supported protests by any political party in accordance with the Constitution and law and urged the government to hold serious negotiations with PTI and resolve its issues.
“We demand the release of all political prisoners, particularly the immediate release of arrested PTI women,” he said, adding that the health of Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ijaz Chaudhry, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Mahmood-ur-Rasheed was deteriorating and keeping them in jail was not justified.
He said merely forming a committee would not resolve the issue. The threats and tone of government ministers were inappropriate, he added, while demands for access to Imran Khan, hospital facilities and meetings with him were not unjustified under the law and its procedures.
The JI chief warned that the unconstitutional imposition of governor’s rule would backfire on the government. He also criticized Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, saying that if he was genuinely opposed to the establishment’s electoral system, he should give up what Naeemur Rehman called the “fake mayoralty” in Karachi, as well as National and Provincial Assembly seats allegedly obtained on the basis of Form-47.
Turning to Karachi’s law-and-order situation, he said people were losing their lives to street crime every day. In Manghopir, he added, a family had buried its child after 18 days, while another young man was killed in a street crime incident the previous night. Naeemur Rehman said JI’s campaign had made people aware that the petroleum levy was an “extortion” and “goonda tax” and had no connection with the actual price of petrol.
Discussing the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he criticised what he described as its “imperialist mindset” and claimed that its donor countries influenced its policies. He said the United States was the largest shareholder of the IMF, with a 16.5 percent share, and that the Fund required an 85 percent majority for certain decisions, allowing the US to exercise a veto on such matters. The IMF confirms that some major decisions require an 85 percent majority and that the US has sufficient voting power to block such decisions.
He alleged that US “terrorism” was not limited to the United Nations but was also visible in the global economic system. Naeemur Rehman said that there was no provision in the IMF programme requiring the Pakistani government to collect the petroleum levy. He questioned how the government could claim to have no money while Maryam Nawaz had purchased an aircraft worth Rs11 billion and an order had been placed for vehicles worth Rs6.6 billion.
“Why do bureaucrats, ministers and advisers have vehicles worth billions, and why do they use free electricity and petrol?” he asked, also alleging that the FBR had committed corruption amounting to Rs1,300 billion. The JI chief said Pakistani banks currently held deposits of Rs38,000 billion, of which 40 percent were in current accounts whose holders did not receive even one percent interest.
“We gave the money and are not taking interest. They are giving loans to the government from our money, and the government is returning the money with 11 percent interest. This 11 percent is being taken by the government from the poor segment of the country,” he said. Rejecting the government’s argument that lowering the interest rate would fuel inflation, he called it “sheer deception”.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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