Jamaat-e-Islami deputy chief Liaqat Baloch said on Thursday in Islamabad that negotiations with the government on the petroleum levy had reached their final stage, and that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif bore responsibility for making the talks succeed.
Speaking to reporters after a party meeting on the levy, he warned that JI would be justified in launching a protest march if relief was not provided. The goal, he said, was sustainable relief that could revive economic activity, not a temporary concession.
Baloch contacted Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, who chairs the government negotiating committee. Dar said he was in meetings with visiting diplomats and would communicate the government's next steps the following day. A joint technical committee has been formed at the finance ministry, but JI representatives said they were still awaiting government directives for a final decision.
Baloch said earlier rounds, including a meeting between the prime minister and the JI chief, had established an understanding that consumers would get relief and that what he called an unjust tax would be phased out.