Chapter 1
Economy and Livelihood
An Economy That Serves People, Not Privilege
Jamaat-e-Islami will pursue an economy in which wealth circulates through productive activity rather than remaining concentrated through monopoly, political influence, interest-based exploitation and privileged access to the state.
A binding Charter of Economy will be prepared through consultation with political parties, economists, industrialists, traders, labour representatives, farmers, Islamic scholars, provincial governments and independent policy institutions. Its purpose will be to establish continuity on taxation, energy, exports, industrialisation, debt reduction, employment and social protection beyond changes of government.
The transition from interest-based finance to an Islamic financial order will be pursued through a phased, legally sound programme. This will include expansion of genuine profit-and-loss sharing, Islamic development finance, interest-free microfinance, agricultural finance, housing finance, Zakat institutions and Shariah-compliant public financing.
Tax Justice
Pakistan’s taxation system will be restructured around the principle that those with the greatest capacity to pay must bear the greatest responsibility.
Jamaat-e-Islami will:
- Exempt monthly salaries up to Rs125,000 from income tax.
- Reduce income-tax rates substantially for salaried persons above that threshold.
- Reduce dependence on indirect taxation that disproportionately burdens poor and middle-income households.
- Pursue a phased reduction of GST on essential economic activity, with a long-term objective of bringing the general rate below 5 percent as fiscal space and documentation improve.
- Eliminate unjust tax exemptions granted to wealthy capitalists, politically connected enterprises, large landowners and the ultra-rich.
- Introduce progressive agricultural income taxation on large landholdings while protecting small cultivators.
- Digitise land and water taxation through e-Malia and e-Abiana.
- Restructure the FBR around documentation, audit capacity, digital enforcement and action against large-scale evasion rather than repeated taxation of the already taxed.
- Publish an annual Tax Expenditure Statement showing every exemption, beneficiary sector and estimated revenue cost.
JI has repeatedly highlighted that ordinary people are taxed through income tax, GST, petrol, electricity, gas, transport and daily necessities from morning until night. This imbalance will end.
Austerity Before Taxation
The government will first impose austerity upon itself before demanding sacrifice from the public.
Non-development expenditure will be reduced by a targeted 30 percent, excluding essential frontline services and national-security operations. Every ministry and public body will be subject to expenditure ceilings and public performance audits.
The following privileges will be abolished or strictly monetised:
- Luxury official vehicles and unrestricted free fuel.
- Multiple residences, excessive protocol and unnecessary foreign travel.
- Post-retirement privileges unrelated to legitimate security needs.
- Luxury entitlements for serving and former presidents, prime ministers, chief ministers, ministers, parliamentary presiding officers, senior judges and high-ranking civil and military officers.
Defence capability will not be weakened. Operational requirements, personnel welfare, indigenous research and national preparedness will be protected. Administrative, ceremonial and non-operational expenditure across all institutions will nevertheless remain subject to parliamentary review.
Energy Reform and Affordable Production
The energy system will be treated as a public-service and economic-growth system, not as a mechanism for guaranteed private profit.
Jamaat-e-Islami will:
- Abolish the petroleum levy through a phased fiscal adjustment and reduce petrol and diesel toward their genuine import, refining, distribution and tax-adjusted cost.
- Eliminate punitive slab structures for electricity and gas that penalise ordinary families.
- Renegotiate or terminate unjust IPP contracts, particularly arrangements requiring payment for electricity that is not consumed.
- End new long-term capacity-payment commitments without competitive tendering, parliamentary scrutiny and transparent demand forecasting.
- Review expensive re-gasification and LNG arrangements.
- Resume and complete viable regional energy initiatives, including the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, subject to national interest and technical feasibility.
- Restructure WAPDA, LESCO and other distribution companies around loss reduction, transparent procurement and consumer protection. Revise agreements with distros such as K-Electric.
- Simplify licensing for multiple electricity distributors so consumers are not trapped by geographic monopolies.
- Reorient NEPRA toward consumer welfare, competition, service standards and public disclosure.
- Publish all major generation, capacity-payment and fuel-cost contracts.
JI’s IPP campaign has demonstrated that contract scrutiny and renegotiation can save the country enormous sums. The policy objective is to consolidate realised savings, pursue potential savings running into several trillion rupees and permanently close the door to opaque capacity-payment arrangements.
Industrial electricity tariffs will be linked to efficiency and employment creation. Incentives will support industries establishing new production units, increasing lawful electricity consumption, creating jobs and reducing the per-unit burden of unused capacity.
Pakistan will pursue self-reliance in:
- Hydropower and decentralised micro-hydel generation.
- Large-scale nuclear power plants and Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) for industrial estates and regional energy hubs.
- Solar-panel and component manufacturing.
- Wind turbines and supporting industries.
- Battery storage and grid-balancing technologies.
- Transmission and distribution equipment.
- Energy-efficient industrial machinery.
Industry, Enterprise and Employment
Pakistan requires productive industrialisation rather than speculative enrichment.
JI will introduce a National Industrial Renewal Programme based on:
- Stable energy prices.
- Predictable taxation.
- Simplified business registration.
- Export finance.
- Technology transfer.
- domestic value addition.
- Industrial clusters linked with universities and technical institutes.
- Priority support for small and medium enterprises.
- Competition enforcement against cartels and profiteering mafias.
Food, cement, sugar, fertiliser, transport, energy and other essential markets will be monitored through an independent competition and price-transparency mechanism. Cartels, artificial shortages, hoarding and politically protected profiteering will face swift prosecution.
Public Enterprises and Privatisation
National assets will not be sold merely to cover fiscal mismanagement or transfer public wealth to connected investors.
Each state-owned enterprise will be assessed under one of four tracks:
Retain and reform → professionally manage → restructure through transparent partnership → close only where no public or strategic purpose remains.
Boards will be selected through open, merit-based procedures. Annual performance contracts, audited accounts, procurement disclosure and professional management will replace political appointments.
Privatisation, where unavoidable, will require parliamentary oversight, competitive valuation, worker protection and safeguards against monopoly formation.
Accountability and Clean Government
An independent accountability system will address bribery, kickbacks, commissions, illicit enrichment, procurement fraud and abuse of authority.
NAB, FIA and other investigative bodies will be restructured to eliminate political interference and retaliatory use. Their heads will be selected through a transparent parliamentary process from persons of proven integrity, competence and independence.
Plea bargaining that allows powerful offenders to retain the benefit of corruption will be abolished. Serious corruption will carry severe punishment, including long imprisonment and, where constitutionally and legally applicable under the principles of Shariah and after the highest standard of due process, the strongest penalties permitted by law.
Public procurement, supplementary grants, development spending and beneficial ownership of government contractors will be published through open digital systems.
Labour, Wages and Productive Dignity
A National Labour Policy will be framed in accordance with the Prophetic principles of dignity, timely wages, fair dealing and protection from exploitation.
The policy will:
- End indefinite daily-wage and contractual employment against permanent posts in public and private institutions.
- Establish inflation-indexed minimum wages.
- Enforce timely salary payments.
- Provide occupational safety and social-security coverage.
- Create mechanisms for workers to share in factory profits through bonuses, share schemes or productivity agreements.
- Strengthen labour courts and collective bargaining.
- Register informal and home-based workers.
- Provide retraining where technology or industrial restructuring displaces labour.
Government and private-sector salaries and pensions will be reviewed annually against inflation and productivity.
An automated pension system will ensure timely payment to retired employees, widows and eligible daughters. Disability-related education, training, accessibility and employment quotas will be strictly enforced.
Productive Welfare, Not Political Dependency
Jamaat-e-Islami will replace patronage-based welfare with a Dignity and Capability Support System.
Direct income support will continue for widows, orphans, persons with severe disabilities, the elderly without income and families facing emergencies. However, able-bodied beneficiaries will be linked with:
- Education.
- Vocational training.
- Health and nutrition.
- Employment placement.
- Small-business finance.
- Agricultural support.
- Digital skills.
- AI-assisted productivity tools.
The national welfare model will shift from cash queues to capability, from political dependency to self-reliance, and from short-term visibility to measurable poverty exit.
Tourism and the Local Economy
Pakistan’s tourism policy will develop more than mountain and adventure destinations. It will include:
- Historical, religious and archaeological tourism.
- Urban culture, food, crafts and commercial life.
- Coastal and ecological tourism.
- Heritage routes and museums.
- Community-run guesthouses and local enterprises.
- Training for guides, transporters and hospitality workers.
- Transparent and fair pricing.
- Security, sanitation and environmental protection.
- Highways, access roads and digital information systems.
Tourist destinations will remain pollution-free, wildlife laws will be enforced and large-scale afforestation will protect watersheds, biodiversity and local livelihoods.
Overseas Pakistanis
Overseas Pakistanis will receive efficient digital and consular services.
Passport, CNIC, domicile and verification processes will be simplified and integrated. Immigration and customs facilitation will be strengthened. Remittance charges will be reduced through competition and digital payment systems.
Pakistani embassies will operate community help desks and serve as cultural, educational and social centres. Overseas Pakistanis will have access to investment facilitation, legal assistance and secure complaint mechanisms.
International Economic Relations
Pakistan will deepen trade, investment, education and technology ties with the Muslim world, especially Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Iran, Malaysia and other friendly states.
Economic and strategic relations with China will be strengthened, and CPEC projects will be completed transparently and efficiently.
Pakistan will develop a deliberate commercial strategy for Central and Southern Africa and South America. Pakistani companies will be supported in entering these markets, while bilateral agreements will prioritise technology transfer, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, engineering services and value-added exports.
Implementation Flow
- Fiscal audit
- Charter of Economy
- Tax and energy legislation
- Elite austerity
- IPP and SOE restructuring
- Industrial and SME investment
- Employment expansion
- Independent public audit
Core Outcomes
- Lower indirect-tax burden.
- Cheaper and more stable energy.
- Expanded industrial employment.
- Reduced debt dependence.
- Transparent state enterprises.
- Inflation-linked wages and pensions.
- Productive social protection.
- Increased exports and investment.