JI rejects budget 2026-27, calls for countrywide strike

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Emir, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, has rejected the federal budget 2026-27 and announced plans to launch a nationwide protest movement.

Speaking at a press conference in Lahore, the JI chief dismissed the budget 2026-27 and said a countrywide protest campaign would soon be initiated against it.

He stated that the government is “crippling the economy” and said a strike would be aimed at “saving and sustaining” the economy. He urged traders to observe a shutdown and called on young people to take to the streets by switching off their motorbikes.

Hafiz Naeem said the current budget is a continuation of previous ones, arguing that it has made the public increasingly poorer. He also claimed that there was no increase in government employees’ salaries, but rather an effective reduction of 1.5%.

He further alleged that revenue shortfalls by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) are compensated through additional levies.

He said around Rs 1,200 billion is being collected from the public through petroleum levies, adding that over the past 25 years the middle class and low-income groups have paid more than Rs 8,000 billion in such charges.

The JI emir also criticised payments to independent power producers (IPPs), claiming that around Rs 1,800 billion annually is paid in capacity charges. 

Rehman noted that the country’s total debt has reached approximately Rs 85 trillion, with interest payments alone amounting to over Rs 8,054 billion.

Hafiz Naeem demanded an immediate reduction in petrol prices to Rs 225 per litre, the abolition of petroleum levies and IPP capacity charges, and a halt to development funds allocated to parliamentarians.

He added that consultations on the protest strategy would be held within the next two to four days, with a final announcement of a nationwide protest movement expected later this week in Lahore.