KARACHI: Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Karachi Chief, Monem Zafar Khan on Saturday announced a citywide protest against the petroleum levy and rising fuel prices, saying the party would take out a rally from Mazar-i-Quaid on August 7 as part of JI’s nationwide “day of protest” called by party chief, Hafiz Naeemur Rehman.
Addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq, he said protest camps would be established across all districts on August 6, while the party’s youth wing would organise more than 1,500 corner meetings and rallies to mobilise the public support.
Monem Zafar claimed that the government was collecting up to Rs125 per litre in petroleum levy, calling it an unfair burden on consumers. According to him, Karachi had more than 4.2 million motorcycles and estimated that motorcyclists in the city alone were paying Rs192 billion a year in petroleum levy.
He demanded the immediate abolition of the levy and a substantial cut in petrol prices.
He also criticised the city’s civic administration, warning that Karachi remained vulnerable to severe urban flooding during heavy monsoon rains because storm-water drains had not been properly cleared despite the allocation of more than Rs530 million for the work.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026