JI chief says ‘admission’ of failure of the system is not enough

KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Tuesday said that merely admitting the country’s system had failed was not enough, and those responsible must take practical steps to fix it.

Addressing a press conference at Idara Noor-i-Haq, he said the recent local government polls in Karachi and “the denial of the public mandate in the 2024 general elections” were fresh examples of what he called the system’s “failure”.

He maintained that the country’s problems could be resolved only by upholding the Constitution as the supreme law.

Naeemur Rehman announced that the JI would hold sit-ins outside the governor houses in Karachi, Peshawar and Quetta, and outside the Punjab chief minister’s house in Lahore on Aug 16 against the petroleum levy and what he described as the government’s failure to address public grievances.

He invited workers of all religious and political parties to join the protests, saying peaceful political resistance was the need of the hour.

The JI chief claimed the government had collected Rs1.9 trillion through the petroleum levy in one year, calling it an unbearable burden on the public. He said people across the country had protested against the levy and other taxes, adding that demonstrators had ensured ambulances were allowed to pass during protests at hundreds of locations.

Criticizing the Federal Board of Revenue, he said around 25,000 people worked in this department and hundreds of officers enjoyed official vehicles worth millions of rupees along with free fuel, yet tax collection targets continued to be missed.

He alleged that the present government had come to power through “Form 47” instead of the genuine public vote. Referring to Karachi’s National Assembly election results, he claimed that 15 seats had been given to the MuttahidaQaumi Movement and seven to the Pakistan Peoples Party, raising serious questions about the electoral system.

He said the issue of creating new administrative units should be decided in accordance with the Constitution and the wishes of the people.

NaeemurRehman also criticized the Sindh government, accusing it of corruption, poor governance and failing to control the spread of HIV in the province.

Referring to the Mir Raza Ali case, he said it had exposed weaknesses in the police and the wider state system. He praised the people of Karachi for raising their voice over the issue.

He questioned the provincial government’s ability to deliver justice, saying that if the Pakistan Peoples Party government had failed to arrest those responsible for the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, it could not be expected to provide justice to ordinary citizens.

Speaking on regional affairs, the JI chief described the Makkah agreement as an important step towards Muslim unity. He suggested that Iran, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Egypt, Bangladesh and other Muslim countries should gradually be included to build a stronger alliance.

Discussing Gaza, NaeemurRehman said Israel continued its attacks despite a ceasefire and accused the United States of fully backing Israel.

Turning to economic issues, he said increases in petroleum prices had pushed up the prices of essential goods.

He said the petroleum levy had originally been introduced to improve oil refineries but claimed very little of the money had been spent for that purpose.

If even Rs1.5 billion to Rs2 billion from the levy had been invested in refinery upgrades, Pakistan could have saved billions of dollars on fuel imports, he said, alleging that not even Rs1 billion had been spent on the stated objective and holding successive governments responsible.

He added that Sindh’s condition was visible to everyone, agriculture in Punjab was facing serious difficulties and government schools across the country remained in poor condition. “How long will Punjab be governed by citing the example of Sindh?” he asked.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026