JI pauses Islamabad long march after Shehbaz request, sets October deadline

Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said Tuesday that the party would pause its Islamabad long march after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called him from New York and asked for a delay. Naeem said the pause was a goodwill gesture, not a withdrawal from the protest against the petroleum levy.

Why did JI pause its Islamabad long march?

Shehbaz contacted Naeem by phone shortly after arriving in New York on Monday night and asked the JI leader to postpone the march for a few days. The prime minister said the government had already announced a relief package and would work on further relief once he returned to Pakistan. Naeem agreed to a temporary pause after consulting party leadership, but said the sit-ins and protest camps would continue in the meantime.

Naeem made clear the pause does not signal any softening of the JI's position. "We will not withdraw from our long march and protest. The sit-ins and camps will continue," he said at a news conference. He added that the march would not enter Islamabad until Shehbaz returns to the country.

What has JI demanded over the petroleum levy?

The JI rejected the government's relief package in its current form and said the campaign against the levy would continue regardless of the pause. Naeem said the party had been protesting the petroleum levy for about a month and a half and would not stop until it was withdrawn entirely.

He linked the levy to wider economic pressure on ordinary Pakistanis, citing rising prices of wheat, flour and sugar. Naeem alleged that flour and sugar mafias held influence within political parties and criticized what he called inconsistent government policy on sugar imports and exports. He also referenced the JI's earlier campaign against agreements with independent power producers as part of the same push for public relief.

When will the Islamabad long march resume?

Naeem said the outcome of his meeting with Shehbaz after the prime minister's return would decide the party's next move. If the government offers meaningful relief, the JI will consider the matter settled for now. If talks stall, the march resumes in the first week of October.

"If the prime minister provides relief in the meeting, that is fine. If there is a delay, the march will resume in the first week of October," Naeem said. The two sides have agreed to meet once Shehbaz is back in Pakistan and to continue talks on the levy and broader relief measures.

How far has the long march travelled so far?

The JI launched the long march from Karachi on Sunday, with Naeem leading a train journey toward Islamabad. The train reached Multan late Monday night after a four-hour delay, where Naeem addressed supporters gathered at the railway station despite the setback.

Naeem said support was also building in parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the march prepared to move through southern and then central Punjab on its way to Islamabad. He said government containers placed along the route would not stop the march and repeated the JI's core demand: withdraw the petroleum levy and give consumers relief.

The government and JI have already held five rounds of talks on the levy, with the most recent round ending without agreement before the march began. Naeem said his party was speaking for poor and middle-class Pakistanis squeezed by rising costs, and that the protest would keep pressure on the government until the levy is scrapped.