Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman on Monday announced a protest in Islamabad for July 12 against “high taxes and exorbitant electricity tariff”.

The JI announced its Haq Do Awam Ko (give rights to the masses) movement in a post on social media platform X, adding that Rehman would lead the rally.

President Asif Ali Zardari assented to the government’s tax-heavy Finance Bill 2024 for the new fiscal year on Sunday. The government had presented the budget two weeks ago, drawing sharp criticism from opposition parties, especially the PTI, as well as coalition ally PPP.

Addressing a press conference in Lahore today, Rehman spoke at length about the economic challenges faced by the citizens, stating that the JI could not see the people suffer under such a “circus”.

He said the government and the ruling classes were not ready to abandon their perks and privileges but had no problems pushing the nation into “a greater difficulty”.

Terming the budget “cruel”, he said it was insufficient to fulfil the government’s “greed” and alleged that it wanted to levy further taxes on the populace.

Rehman said the tax burden was falling on the salaried classes while landowners and the elite were “exempted”.

“We think all these issues need to be dealt with genuinely,” he said, adding that the party’s leadership from all over the country decided after consultation to hold a grand rally in Islamabad on July 12.

“This protest rally will be for a decrease in the electricity bills and taxes,” he said. “The privileged sector will have to reduce its perks and the per unit power price will have to be reduced and this system of taxes will need to be eliminated.”

The JI emir also criticised the slab-based pricing structure of electricity bills and called for its end. He said the protest would force the government to move back and repeal its “cruel measures”.

Rehman claimed that 119 per cent of professionals had left the country compared to the previous year because of economic malaise in the past two years, giving the example of doctors, engineers, information technology specialists and chartered accountants.

“If they leave, who will run the country?” he rhetorically asked.

“Pakistan needs medical professionals who are looking for ways to leave the country because of inflation, unemployment, unrest and now all these taxes.”

Rehman stressed that such taxes led to professionals fleeing the country, adding that even the youth had become jaded because of such policies.

“With what mindset are they running the country?” he asked of the government, adding that the “Form-47” government was doing whatever it wanted out of its own volition.

“We cannot leave the citizens alone. God willing, on July 12 there will be a historic protest by JI,” he reiterated, hinting at the protest becoming a sit-in.

“We will sit there, keep sitting and then we will have talks from there and will run this whole campaign in Pakistan from there,” he said, adding that there was no other solution than this.

He said the party was also holding consultation on a call for a strike and appealed to traders, industrialists and the salaried class to join the party’s movement.

Rehman also assailed power distribution companies for loadshedding during the recent heatwave.

He rejected calls for a re-election as espoused by some other parties, saying the Forms 45 were present.