JI postpones Islamabad long march after PM’s request

Multan (Web Desk): Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Tuesday that the party had temporarily halted its planned march towards Islamabad after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appealed for a pause over the petroleum levy dispute.

Rehman announced the decision during a media briefing in Multan, where several other JI leaders were also present.

The party’s protest caravan had entered the city late on Monday night after setting out a day earlier as part of its planned march.

The development came after the prime minister held a telephone conversation with the JI emir. The Prime Minister’s Office said Shehbaz Sharif asked Rehman to defer the sit-in and proposed that the two sides meet once the premier returned from his official visit to the United States to continue talks on the issue.

Rehman told reporters that the prime minister had personally called him on Monday night. He said he did not immediately respond to the request and instead sought time to discuss the matter with the party’s leadership.

After holding what he termed “very lengthy” consultations, the JI leadership agreed that the protest movement would remain intact and that the party was not withdrawing its demand or abandoning the march.

However, Rehman said the party had chosen to give the government some room to respond to its grievances, especially since the prime minister had directly stepped into the matter for the first time.

“We will meet them, hear their position and put forward our arguments. We are a sensible party,” the JI chief said.

He added that a way forward could emerge if the prime minister agreed to provide relief when the two sides met.

If the government did not offer the required relief, Rehman said, JI would restart its march in the first week of October and carry on with the protest as previously planned.