Pakistan’s government announced Sunday it would release 35 members of Jamaat-e-Islami who had been detained in an effort to persuade the right-wing Islamist party to end protests against skyrocketing electricity tariffs and tax increases.
The government has also set up a technical committee to look into the demands of the party, which has been staging a sit-in since Friday in Liaqat Bagh area of Murli Road in the garrison city of Rawalpindi over power and tax hike issues.
Information Minister Ataullah Talal said after the first round of talks with JI that the government would release 35 JI supporters in accordance with the party’s demands.
“We have decided to release them immediately,” he said.
He said the government was committed to easing the burden on the people and had already agreed to the demands put forward by the JI delegation.
Tarar made the announcement after meeting with a JI delegation led by its Deputy Chairman Liaqat Baloch. The government negotiating team included Tarar, Minister of State for Kashmir Affairs Amir Maqam, senior PML-N leader Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and Prime Minister’s Media Coordinator Badr Shahbaz.
Tarar said the JI delegation had presented a list of 10 demands, most of which pertained to power-related issues. He said a technical committee including representatives from the Ministry of Water and Power, Energy Secretary, FBR and the Ministry of Finance had been formed to examine ways of providing relief to the general public.
Earlier, speaking at the sit-in protest, JI president Hafiz Naeem said no one wanted to leave their homes and sit on the streets, but they were standing up for the future of the country and would stay until their demands were met.
“The contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) were hidden and investigations revealed that the ruling class was involved. The capacity charge budget for electricity is larger than the defence budget,” he said.
He reiterated that the sit-in and negotiations would continue simultaneously, warning that lip service would not be effective and that protesters would not back down until their demands were met.
First uploaded: 28 July 2024 23:34 IST
