The leaders of opposition parties on Wednesday rejected the recent hike in the prices of petroleum products and urged people at large to teach a lesson to Prime Minister Imran Khan in next polls.
On Tuesday, the government had notified an unprecedented increase in the prices of all petroleum products by up to Rs10 to Rs12 per litre for the next fortnight ending on February 28 “to pass on the impact of higher international oil prices” and application of additional petroleum levy, as committed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, while rejecting the increase in prices of petroleum products, said that after inflation, unemployment, poverty, increase in dollar and corruption, Prime Minister Imran Khan has reached record levels in increasing oil prices.
In a statement, the PPP chairman said that the increase in prices of petroleum products is a robbery on the pockets of the people and Pakistan will not accept it. He further said that Imran Khan has intensified the bombardment of inflation on the people.
Bilawal said that CNG stations have already been closed for three months, and now an increase in oil prices will further raise inflation and food prices.
He said that the increase in oil prices by the selected government is as big as a mountain, but there is never even a slight decrease in the prices.
He said when the prices in the world market go up, the price of oil in Pakistan goes up, but when the prices go down in the world, they remain the same in Pakistan.
Separately, Bilawal also demanded the restoration of student unions across the country after Sindh passed a bill to restore the bodies. “A new leadership will emerge through this nursery […] as student unions played an integral part in ending the dictatorship. The role of students in the struggle against (dictator) Zia-ul-Haq was historic,” he said while addressing an event in the provincial capital.
He said hatred and extremism are on the rise in society and this is due to the absence of students unions — which were banned during former dictator Gen Zia’s tenure, almost four decades back.
PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif hit out at the PTI-led government, saying “it is snatching people’s right to live”.
He urged the masses to “teach Prime Minister Imran Khan a befitting lesson in the next general elections”.
Sirajul Haq, the Jamaat-i-Islami head, said his party “will not remain silent on this brutality”, adding that the hike is another example of the government’s “brutality” as he threatened a protest march towards Islamabad.
PML-N’s Ishaq Dar noted the rate hike is unaffordable for the public, saying it is the result of a “dictated devaluation in Pakistani rupee”.
PPP’s Nafisa Shah questioned how people would make their ends meet after the steep hike.
Another PPP leader Naz Baloch, formerly a PTI member, said the price surge would directly result in a new high in inflation.
