LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami’s sit-in against the petroleum levy and inflation continued on Lahore’s Mall Road for a 30th day on Monday, though the protest has narrowed into a largely symbolic presence with attendance well below its earlier levels.
Chairs and tents remain in place at Faisal Chowk on Mall Road and the road remains closed to traffic, but the number of participants at the camp has fallen.
Jamaat-e-Islami has demanded the complete abolition of the petroleum levy and immediate relief for the public in petrol and electricity prices.
The party has announced that the sit-in will continue until its demands are accepted.
The camp at Faisal Chowk has now been in place for a full month, and the continued closure of a central section of Mall Road has become a civic issue in its own right. Mall Road carries traffic between the city’s administrative core, the Punjab Assembly, the High Court, major hospitals and the commercial stretches around Charing Cross, and its closure displaces traffic onto parallel routes that were not designed to absorb it.
Traders on and around Mall Road have reported reduced footfall through the period, while commuters have faced extended diversions during peak hours.
The nationwide campaign began on 16 August. In Lahore, the party structured the sit-in as a three-stage escalation tied explicitly to withdrawal of the levy, held the Charing Cross camp through late August, and called a nationwide strike on 3 September.
The party has announced a long march on Islamabad for 20 September if its demands are not met.
Two rounds of negotiations between the government and the party have been held in Islamabad without a final agreement. In the first round, on 7 September, the party submitted six proposals and argued that the direct levy on petrol and diesel was damaging the economy. After the second round, the government sought additional time to respond.
The third round on the petroleum levy was moved to Tuesday, 15 September at the Prime Minister’s request, with negotiations on the Independent Power Producers file scheduled separately for Wednesday.
The government has meanwhile announced a targeted fuel relief scheme offering Rs100 off every litre for motorcycles, rickshaws, Qingqis and cars up to 800cc. Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has said the scheme does not alter the party’s demand for complete abolition of the levy.
The sit-in’s thirtieth day coincides with the imposition of Section 144 across Punjab from 13 to 17 September, which bans sit-ins, processions and demonstrations at public places and roads province-wide. The Punjab Home Department has framed the order as a counter-terrorism precaution based on intelligence warnings that gatherings could be targeted, and the notification names no political party.
How the order is applied to an existing camp already in place before its promulgation is the immediate question on Mall Road, and neither the district administration nor the party has publicly set out a position.
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