Overview
- The government and Jamaat-e-Islami agreed to form rival technical committees that are due to meet on Monday to seek a workable fix for the petroleum levy within about two weeks.
- JI has kept sit-ins active across provinces and says it will not suspend protests while talks proceed, warning of wheel‑jam and shutter‑down strikes, petrol station closures, a train march and a long march to Islamabad if demands are unmet.
- Party leaders demand abolition or full transparency of the petroleum levy and allege the state collected roughly Rs4–5 trillion from it, while proposing policy changes such as a three percentage‑point cut in interest rates and an end to capacity payments to independent power producers.
- The government says any changes must fit Pakistan’s fiscal limits and IMF commitments, making the key question whether technical recommendations can be translated into budgeted, implementable measures.
- If committees fail to deliver tangible relief, the protests risk disrupting fuel supplies, transport and food prices and could turn into a broader political movement aimed at unseating the Shehbaz Sharif administration, a development to watch over the next fortnight.