CHITRAL: The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan has launched a focused, countrywide protest against the petroleum levy imposed on fuel prices. The protest is unusual in its scale spanning simultaneously from Chitral to Karachi with major roads closed and protest meetings held across the country.

What makes the JI protest different is its clear and simple one-point agenda: abolish or reduce the petroleum levy that has made fuel unnecessarily expensive.

The issue deserves serious attention because expensive fuel does not stop at the petrol pump. It increases the cost of transport, electricity, agriculture, food and almost every other necessity of life. In that sense, the petroleum levy is one of the major reasons behind the high cost of living.

Whether one agrees with the Jamaat-e-Islami or not, there is something refreshing about a political party taking up one specific issue affecting every individual and pursuing it directly, rather than mixing many political demands into a single protest. The government should therefore address the issue on its merits instead of simply treating the protest as another political confrontation. .. CN report 08 Aug 2026