Breakthrough Likely Before JI Long March Reaches Islamabad, Inside Details of Fifth Round of Government Talks Emerge
KARACHI: The fifth round of talks with the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) have been revealed and may herald a political resolution ahead of the opposition’s long march to the federal capital.
Satisfactory sources say that the government team has provided Jamaat-e-Islami a huge public relief package. The proposed package, however, will only be implemented if the technical committee of JI approves formally.
Take a moment to reflect on how much the Prime Minister has involved himself and how he could involve himself in the march in the future.
The government authorities told the JI leadership that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is whole-heartedly in the negotiations. A high level meeting with the Jamaat-e-Islami leadership along with direct meeting is expected between the Prime Minister and the Jamaat-e-Islami is to be expected, following his return to the country.
Sources in Jamaat-e-Islami said that if the government shows genuine sincerity, they might allow a temporary suspension of the long march; but they said that the long march against the petroleum levy will not be withdrawn until the levy is completely eliminated.
JI Long March Begins from Karachi.
At the same time, the long march by Jamaat-e-Islami, demanding the withdrawal of the petroleum levy from the country, has officially begun from Karachi.
JI Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman from the departure site gave a clear warning to the ruling government saying that it was time to heed the writing on the wall and not let the crisis become a fight of egos. He restated the government’s position that it has no choice but to remove the petroleum levy, and stressed again that the anti-levy movement is likely to turn into a movement against the government if the levy is not removed.