Government–JI talks on petroleum levy enter final stage, with working paper and relief package next
Negotiations between the government and Jamaat-e-Islami over removing the petroleum levy and giving consumers relief have entered their final stage, JI negotiator Liaquat Baloch said after Tuesday’s meeting in Islamabad, though no final agreement has yet been announced.
Negotiations between the federal government and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) over the petroleum levy and relief for consumers have entered their final stage, JI negotiator Liaquat Baloch said on Tuesday after the latest round of talks in Islamabad, with a working paper on a relief package now the next step.
The meeting took place at the Foreign Office, where Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar led the government side and Baloch led the JI delegation. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal and the prime minister’s adviser on inter-provincial coordination, Rana Sanaullah, were also on the government side, while Syed Farasat Shah and Engineer Nasrullah Randhawa accompanied Baloch for JI.
According to a statement from the Foreign Office, the two sides held candid discussions on practical measures to provide relief to the common man, with a particular focus on low-income citizens facing rising energy costs. The statement said both sides agreed to continue consultations over the coming days to formulate a way forward on petroleum pricing and public relief, and quoted Dar as reiterating the government’s commitment to prioritising public welfare amid global economic challenges.
Speaking to reporters afterwards, Baloch went further, saying the talks had reached their culminating stage and that the government had acknowledged the validity of JI’s demands for public relief and the gradual removal of the petroleum levy, following the party’s nationwide protest campaign and its presentation of six demands. He said the two sides had agreed on relief for the agriculture sector, public transport and certain categories of vehicles, including 1,000cc cars.
The immediate next step, Baloch said, is a working paper setting out the relief package, with the government completing its work on the proposals and JI finalising its side. Once a final draft agreement has been reviewed, JI Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman will announce the party’s future course of action, Baloch added.
Not every account of Tuesday’s round agreed. ARY News, citing sources, reported that the talks had ended without progress and that the government was not ready to end the petroleum levy, with the JI team holding its own session afterwards to brief its emir. No final agreement has been published by either side, so the working paper — and the emir’s announcement after it — will be the real test of whether the “final stage” description holds.
The talks are the latest chapter in a dispute that has run for months. JI’s campaign against the levy intensified in August, when the party organised demonstrations and sit-ins across the country, including outside governors’ houses in the provincial capitals on 16 August, demanding the levy’s withdrawal and lower petrol prices. On 3 September the two sides agreed to set up technical committees, and JI submitted six proposals at a first round of negotiations on 7 September.
When those negotiations failed to resolve the dispute, JI announced a long march towards Islamabad for 20 September. The march began from Karachi by train and moved through Sukkur towards Multan, but was suspended after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif telephoned the JI chief and asked for the protest to be postponed to allow further talks. JI agreed to give negotiations a chance while keeping its demand for the levy’s complete abolition, and later warned it would resume the march in mid-November if its demands were not met.
A fresh attempt at a settlement came on 27 October, when the government and JI agreed to form a six-member committee, three members from each side, to finalise recommendations on expanding the existing fuel relief scheme and preparing proposals for a phased reduction in the levy. Tuesday’s meeting was held under that framework, with the stated aim of broadening the scheme so that the maximum number of deserving people benefit.
The timing matters for households already squeezed by fuel costs. On the same day as the talks, the government cut petrol by Rs3.40 a litre and diesel by Rs7.76 a litre, with the new rates in force from 3 November under its daily fuel price review. Whether the working paper now delivers something more lasting — a phased path away from the levy itself, or only targeted relief for farmers, transporters and small-car owners — will become clear when the draft is reviewed and JI’s leadership responds. Until then, the long march threat for mid-November remains on the table if the party judges the outcome to be inadequate.
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