RAWALPINDI: As Jamaat-e-Islami continues to hold a sit-in at Rawalpindi’s Liaquat Bagh, the government has made its first formal contact with the party to hold “serious talks” with them.
Federal Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has held a telephone conversation with JI Vice Emir Liaquat Baloch to discuss the party’s demands as it continues its demonstration against soaring inflation and exorbitant electricity bills.
The party on Friday claimed at least 1,150 of its workers were arrested while trying to march on Islamabad after authorities imposed Section 144 in the federal capital and across Punjab.
The party workers and activists, however, were later released in the day as confirmed by Baloch.
JI, vowing to continue its protest, had since then staged a sit-in in Rawalpindi.
Various arteries within the city also remained blocked, leading to widespread traffic disruptions across the city with the police stressing that they would not allow JI to protest in Islamabad without permission.
In his interaction with Naqvi, the JI vice emir underscored the party’s demand seeking abolishment of the “slab system” in electricity bills — which provisions different per-unit rates for users in accordance with their usage — and called for a 50% reduction in electricity bills of people using 500 units of electricity.
Urging the government to terminate its agreement for capacity payment in US dollars with the independent power producers (IPPs), Baloch also called on the Centre to withdraw the taxes imposed on the salaried class.
The JI leader also asked the government to abolish the petroleum levy and take back the recent hike in fuel prices.
