ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani religious party protesting against the rising cost of living in the country will hold negotiations with the government today, Sunday, after meeting a delegation of the ruling administration that agreed to release its detained party workers.

Thousands of Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) supporters have camped in Rawalpindi’s historic Liaqat Bagh ground, demanding the government remove additional taxes imposed in the latest budget presented last month.

JI chief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman has also called for a reduction in power tariffs recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) amid soaring inflation, along with a review of Pakistan’s loss-making agreements with independent power producers (IPPs).

The government formed a three-member negotiating committee to engage with the JI leadership a day earlier when the party said hundreds of its workers had been arrested by law enforcement agencies.

“The negotiations between the government and Jamaat-e-Islami will begin on July 28,” the party said in a brief statement after meeting the visiting delegation at the site of the sit-in. “The time and place [for the talks] will be announced later.”

Earlier, the JI said there could be no negotiations with the government before the release of its workers.

“We have rejected the government’s three-member negotiation committee as it comprises irrelevant people,” Aamir Baloch, the party spokesperson, told Arab News. “We will negotiate with the government only when all of our arrested workers are released.”

“Our 300 out of 1,100 workers were arrested by Islamabad and Punjab police,” he continued. “They are still in custody, so there is no point in starting negotiations at this stage.”

Pakistan’s Information Minister Attaullah Tarar announced the formation of the government’s negotiating team on Friday, saying it included him and two senior members of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party.

“We are ready for negotiations, but don’t disrupt public life,” he said during a news conference. “The government’s three-member committee will talk to you. Amir Muqam, Tariq Fazal Chaudhry and I will negotiate with you. Whenever you express willingness, we are ready for the negotiations.”

The JI decided to form a four-member committee to negotiate with the government after Tarar and his delegation went to meet the party leaders and held a conversation in an amicable environment.

The JI said the information minister had assured its leadership of releasing the detained party workers.

Prior to that, the Rawalpindi district administration closed Murree Road, a main thoroughfare in the city, with shipping containers and deployed heavy contingents of security personnel around the sit-in site to avoid any untoward incident.

The JI chief had also addressed his supporters at Liaqat Bagh, expressing his resolve to make the government accept the party’s demands.

“If the government believes our sit-in will remain confined to Murree Road, this is its wishful thinking,” Naeem-ur-Rehman said. “If they do not reduce electricity bills, address the IPP issue and revoke tax slabs imposed on the salaried classes, then this sit-in will not remain limited here. It will spread to the entire country.”

ISLAMABAD: The government has formed a joint investigation team (JIT) under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016, to probe individuals accused of spreading chaos in the country through a “malicious social media campaign,” according to an official notification that emerged on Saturday.

The development comes just days after the Pakistan Army’s spokesman, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, accused “digital terrorists” of making the military’s anti-terrorism efforts controversial on social media platforms in a veiled reference to former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.

While the official notification does not mention the PTI, the government has also blamed Khan’s party for running “anti-state propaganda.”

“The Federal Government has been pleased to constitute a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) in terms of Section 30 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA), 2016,” the interior ministry notification dated July 26 announced.

PECA law aims to address cybercrimes and regulate electronic communications, covering offenses like unauthorized access to data, cyber terrorism, and the dissemination of false information.

The law is controversial due to concerns over its impact on freedom of speech, the potential for abuse of power by law enforcement and its broad definitions, which critics argue can be used to suppress dissent and target journalists and opposition parties.

The notification said the JIT would “investigate and determine the organized objectives of the accused and their accomplices who have created chaos and disorder in Pakistan through malicious social media campaign.”

It added it would “identify and prosecute the culprits” according to applicable laws.

PTI has frequently complained of a state crackdown since its top leaders and supporters were blamed for carrying out violent protests in different parts of the country in which government buildings were vandalized following Khan’s brief arrest on corruption charges last year in May.

Earlier this month, the party’s senior media manager Ahmed Waqas Janjua and its information secretary Raoof Hassan were arrested by the authorities who accused them of pushing “anti-state narrative” to undermine Pakistan.

The interior ministry notification said the JIT would be headed by Islamabad police chief and include senior officials of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) that, among other responsibilies, looks into cybercrimes.