Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir Engineer Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has strongly rejected the budget, terming it an anti-people document prepared entirely on the dictates of the IMF.
Addressing a press conference in the federal capital on Sunday, the JI chief warned that the party will announce a in next budgettwo days if immediate relief is not provided to the masses. Senior party leadership, including Vice Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Firasat Shah, Emir JI Islamabad Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa and Secretary Information Shakil Ahmed Turabi were also present on the occasion.
Hafiz Naeemur Rehman highlighted that national debt has skyrocketed to 85 trillion rupees, with an annual interest payment liability reaching 800 billion rupees. He criticized the government for treating the budget as a mere game of shuffling figures without understanding the ground realities of the impoverished public. He warned that this cruel economic system requires a massive public resistance movement and stated that JI will actively mobilize the youth for this struggle. If the government fails to provide relief, the party intends to launch a countrywide movement, which will include shutting down major highways.
To revive the struggling industrial sector and support the common man, the JI Chief put forward immediate demands for the economic recovery. He demanded that the government must immediately scrap the petroleum levy, as the objectives for which it was originally introduced are not being met. Furthermore, he stated that electricity rates for the industrial sector must be fixed at 9 cents per unit to ensure economic productivity, and questioned the absolute lack of measures in the budget to reduce the crushing burden of capacity payments to Independent Power Producers. In terms of state austerity, the JI Chief demanded an immediate ban on official vehicles exceeding 1300cc across all state departments, stressing that Supreme Court judges, military generals, and the ruling political elite must take the lead in voluntarily reducing their privileges.