KARACHI: A Pakistani religio-political on Sunday staged sit-ins in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta cities as part of a widening campaign against high petroleum levy, which it says has driven up prices of petroleum products across the country.
Pakistan introduced petroleum levy under a commitment with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of its ongoing loan programs. According to the latest government notification, taxes on petrol currently stand at Rs114 per liter, while taxes and duties on diesel remain at Rs100 per liter, figures that include a Rs80 per liter levy on petrol and Rs77.28 per liter levy on diesel. An additional Rs5 per liter ‘climate support charge’ is also applied to both fuels.
The protests, backed by traders’ groups and lawyers, brought commercial activity to a halt in major cities, with public transport largely off the roads. In Karachi, thousands of demonstrators gathered outside the provincial governor’s residence. Separately, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party, led supporters to the Punjab chief minister’s office in Lahore, while similar sit-ins were also held in Peshawar and Quetta.
“We have staged a sit-in in front of the Governor House. You can see this roaring sea of people,” said Nadir Khan, a protester at the Karachi sit-in, accusing the government of using levy revenue to “fund a lavish lifestyle.”
JI has demanded the levy’s abolition, arguing that removing it and other fuel taxes would bring petrol below Rs200 per liter.
Petroleum Minister Ali Pervaiz Malik this month defended levy and told a Senate committee that any reduction is unlikely to get IMF approval unless the government identifies alternative revenue sources. He argued that scrapping the levy would force the state to either cut spending or let consumers absorb the cost through higher inflation.
The protests come at a time when petrol is selling at Rs325.43 ($1.17) per liter and diesel at Rs383.95 ($1.38) per liter, under a mechanism that allows the country’s Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) to revise fuel prices daily, based on international benchmarks.
The government collected Rs1.567 trillion (about $5.64 billion) in petroleum levy in the fiscal year 2025–26 that ended in June, which was Rs99 billion (about $356 million) more than its budgeted target of Rs1.468 trillion (about $5.28 billion), according to the finance ministry.
Yasir Khan, a Karachi resident, said the levy’s impact goes far beyond the fuel pumps, pointing to knock-on price increases in everyday goods.
“When a milk truck carries milk from Landhi and reaches Metroville, it increases the price of milk by 30 rupees on account of this levy,” he said. “Its impact is not just on milk, or on flour. The entire economic sector has been completely ruined.”
Ahmed Sheeraz, a JI worker, hoped the party would keep up the pressure until its demands were met.
“We appeal to the government and higher authorities to abolish the petrol levy extortion and bring petrol down to 225 rupees,” he said.
