ISLAMABAD: Pakistani political party Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has called for a protest on Tuesday in the country’s southern port city of Karachi against the government’s decision to hike fuel prices last week, calling on citizens to take to the streets against the measure which is likely to exacerbate the country’s inflation woes. 

Pakistan’s finance ministry announced increasing the price of petrol by Rs26.02 per liter on Friday, with the price of the commodity breaching the Rs330 mark for the first time in the history of the inflation-hit South Asian country. This was the third fuel hike by the interim government of Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, and is expected to fuel further inflation, which was recorded at 27.4 percent year-on-year in August.

Pakistan’s move to hike fuel prices comes after it secured an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in June for a $3 billion bailout package. The loan helped Pakistan avoid a debt default but meant the South Asian country had to agree to tough conditions imposed by the IMF. The recent hikes in energy prices also come as part of it.

“I want to say to the 35,000,000 people of Karachi, if they stand with unity and take part in peaceful and disciplined protests, then an entire movement will begin in the country,” Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, the president of JI’s Karachi chapter, said in a video message.

“Hence we have decided, on Tuesday, September 19 at 5:00 p.m. everyone should come out of their homes onto the streets and turn off their motorcycles and cars and park them on the roads.”

The decision to hike fuel prices was taken weeks after angry citizens took to the streets in various parts of the country in August against the government’s move to increase the power tariff in July. Enraged citizens torched their power bills, saying that the increased tariff had rendered them unable to pay steep power bills. 

The protests will take place at a time when Pakistan’s economy is in a tailspin, as its currency depreciates against the US dollar and the country’s reserves dwindle. Pakistan has attempted to attract foreign direct investment to ward off its economic crisis and cracked down on smuggling and illegal hoarding and trading of US dollars to revive the economy.