A first information report (FIR) was filed against Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) officials on Sunday in Peshawar for organizing demonstrations against an increase in energy rates.
The FIR lists charges such as disrupting government operations, blocking roads, damaging government property, and closing businesses by force.
Several high-ranking members of the JI have been charged with the crime, including attorney Khalid Gul, Zahid Shah, Tahir Zareen, and Haji Qadeer.
In protest of rising inflation, skyrocketing electricity bills, and the recent increase in the pricing of petroleum items, hundreds of merchants across the country shut down their businesses the day before.
JI and other merchants’ groups issued the strike call, which was backed by the legal community, which boycotted courthouses.
Signs protesting “the unreasonable increase in electricity bills and taxes” were displayed in deserted bazaars in Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and other towns across the country, when commercial hubs and business centres remained closed.
The JI head called for a nationwide strike on Friday during a news conference in Lahore to protest the country’s high electricity prices. A call for the administration to reverse its “draconian” policies was issued by the party.
JI even organised a march of thousands of women in protest of the astronomical price hikes for power, calling for immediate relief and the cancellation of the accompanying levies. The largest of the recent wave of electricity demonstrations took place on New MA Jinnah Road.
