PPP rejects the 27 September long march as JI defers its own after PM's call

Jamaat-e-Islami has put off its march on Islamabad after a phone call from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, while making clear the protest against the petroleum levy itself is not being withdrawn. On Wednesday the PPP came out against the other march still on the calendar, PTI's for 27 September.

PPP rejects the 27 September march

PPP secretary general Nayyer Hussain Bukhari rejected the opposition's planned long march from Peshawar to Islamabad on 27 September, arguing that "frequent marches on Islamabad severely disrupt the lives of citizens" and that "whether it is May 9 or Nov 26, the people ultimately suffer."

"Political issues cannot be resolved through confrontation, force or agitation; they must be addressed through negotiations and constitutional and democratic means," he said, calling on both the government and the opposition to "show mercy to the people." Bukhari also criticised petrol price levels and demanded relief.

That matters for arithmetic rather than tone: PPP is a partner in the governing arrangement, and its formal position removes any doubt about whether the march gets political cover from inside the coalition.

The JI deferral

Shehbaz called JI emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman from the United States on Tuesday, where he is attending the 81st session of the UN General Assembly, and asked him to defer the march by a few days. According to the JI spokesperson, the Prime Minister also offered to meet Hafiz Naeem on his return and assured him of better relief. The PMO said Hafiz Naeem told the Prime Minister that JI was considering postponing the sit-in after the government's assurance.

Hafiz Naeem's position has not moved. He told the Prime Minister that JI had been protesting the levy for the past month and a half and would not withdraw until the petroleum levy is abolished. Addressing a gathering in Multan the same day, he called the levy "economic terrorism" and said the government had one option, which was to scrap it and pass the relief to the public. The party's Super Long March was on its third day when the call came, with its train march reaching Multan.

Why the levy is the fight

The petroleum levy is the part of the pump price that is pure federal revenue. It is not a tax on the oil company's margin and it does not move with Brent.

We worked through what removing the levy for a year would do to a full tank in our piece on the proposal: roughly Rs 3,200 off 40 litres, which is why the demand has traction beyond JI's own vote bank.

The government's problem is that the levy is one of the few revenue lines the IMF counts on, and the IMF mission is in Islamabad for the review tied to a $1.2 billion tranche. Whatever "better relief" turns out to mean, it has to survive that conversation. The ADB on Wednesday held Pakistan's FY27 growth forecast at 3.7pc and raised its inflation call to 8.3pc, which does not make the fiscal arithmetic any easier.

What it costs you at the pump today

Prices came down at the last revision, which took effect on Wednesday 23 September. Petrol is Rs 392.05 a litre, down Rs 1.70, and high speed diesel is Rs 418.96, down Rs 3.12. A 40-litre tank is Rs 15,682, against Rs 15,750 before the cut.

That is a Rs 68 saving on a tank. The levy demand is about a figure roughly fifty times larger, which is the whole point of the protest.

Our petrol price page carries every revision with the date it took effect, and the fuel cost calculator turns your weekly running into a rupee figure at the current rate.

What happens next

JI said a decision on the party's future course of action would be announced in Multan after consultations with the party leadership, so the march is deferred rather than cancelled. A meeting between Hafiz Naeem and the Prime Minister is expected once Shehbaz is back from New York. He is scheduled to address the General Assembly on 25 September.

PTI's 27 September call stands. Islamabad is already working through security preparations: roughly 2,000 containers positioned, 18,000 police borrowed from other districts, and schools shut in parts of the capital. For anyone travelling through Islamabad or Rawalpindi this week, the JI deferral removes one set of road closures from the calendar and leaves the other in place.