What happened
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said on Thursday, 20 August 2026, that his party would expand its ongoing sit-ins into a nationwide wheel-jam and shutter-down strike the week after 12th Rabiul Awwal, which falls on 26 August, if the government does not abolish the petroleum levy.
Speaking at a press conference in Islamabad, he said JI would also set up protest camps across the country and could march on the capital on foot if the government failed to respond to its demands. He was due to address the party’s sit-in in Lahore the same day, with a public gathering planned at the Karachi protest venue on Friday.
The demand
Rehman called the petroleum levy an unjustified “extortionary tax”, saying consumers were paying around Rs80 per litre under it. He said the levy had originally been introduced to finance the upgrading of Pakistan’s oil refineries, but that the government had collected more than Rs8 trillion from consumers while spending less than Rs100 billion on refinery upgrades.
He urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to cut petrol and diesel prices by Rs130, arguing the government should pass the full benefit to consumers. The demand followed the government’s decision a day earlier to cut high-speed diesel by Rs32.63 a litre while raising petrol by Rs2.97.
On negotiations, Rehman said JI would not take part in government briefings and wanted the rulers to come to the protesters and engage with them directly.
The wider campaign
Rehman said JI sit-ins in Lahore, Karachi and Peshawar were drawing growing numbers of traders, religious scholars, youth and civil society members, and that they had become a platform for broader public grievances.
He recalled JI’s earlier campaign against independent power producers, saying the government subsequently negotiated, five IPPs were shut down and new agreements were signed with others, which he said saved the national exchequer Rs3.36 trillion. He said 73 IPPs still needed to be reviewed.
The JI chief said Pakistan’s total debt had risen to Rs98 trillion and called on the government to honour commitments on eliminating interest-based financing. He criticised the power tariff structure, proposed that government vehicles be limited to 1,300cc engines, and faulted the PPP’s record in Sindh and the PML-N’s in Punjab. He also demanded the release of PTI founder Imran Khan and all political prisoners, and called restrictions on Khan’s medical treatment “fascism”.
JI Vice-Emir Mian Muhammad Aslam, Deputy Secretary Syed Farasat Shah, Islamabad Emir Nasrullah Randhawa and Information Secretary Shakil Ahmed Turabi were also present.
Why it matters
The warning raises the prospect of renewed nationwide disruption over fuel costs at a time when the government has moved to daily petrol and diesel pricing and global oil markets remain volatile. JI’s earlier anti-IPP campaign showed it can mobilise beyond its core support, and the threatened strike would test whether the government is willing to negotiate over a levy that is a significant source of revenue.
What remains unclear
The government had not responded publicly to the threat by the end of the day, and it is not clear whether it will enter talks or hold its position on the levy. Whether JI can sustain a wheel-jam and shutter-down strike across the country after 26 August also remains to be seen.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a summary of published reporting, not independent reporting. Details and quoted remarks are as carried by the cited source, which was reviewed on 20 August 2026.
- Dawn — "JI warns it will expand ongoing sit-ins into wheel-jam, shutter-down strike"20 August 2026 · The strike threat, the demands over the petroleum levy and fuel prices, and Rehman's remarks on the wider campaign.
