The opposition on Saturday slammed the government’s move to hike petrol and diesel prices by Rs55 per litre, terming it an “inflation bomb” for the public and demanding its reversal.
The decision to raise the prices came as the country felt the economic impacts of the US-Israel war on Iran, which has paralysed trade via the Strait of Hormuz — a route Pakistan relies heavily on for its oil supplies.
Senate Opposition Leader Allama Raja Nasir Abbas termed the decision the “worst form of governance and a grave anti-people move”.
“When people are already struggling to make ends meet, such decisions are tantamount to rubbing salt into the people’s wounds,” he said on X.
Highlighting that the government was already collecting more than Rs100 in petroleum levy, Abbas wondered whether the public or the ruling class would bear the additional burden.
The government has increased the petroleum development levy (PDL) on petrol by Rs20 to about Rs105 per litre to offset what would otherwise have been a higher increase in diesel prices. Meanwhile, the levy on high-speed diesel (HSD) was reduced to Rs57 per litre from Rs77.
As a result, the ex-depot price of HSD was fixed at Rs335.86 per litre for the coming week, up by about 20pc from Rs280.86 per litre. Likewise, the ex-depot price of petrol was revised to Rs321.17 per litre from Rs266.17 per litre, reflecting an increase of around 17pc.
“The need of the hour is for the government — instead of placing the burden on the people, to cut its privileges — protocol and unnecessary expenditures and immediately provide relief to the people,” the senator said.
“This is not a time for political point-scoring but of national survival. The government should reduce expenditures, adopt transparency, take the entire national leadership along, and immediately take practical measures for public relief,” he demanded.
Abbas, who is the vice chairman of opposition alliance Tehreek-i-Tahafuz-i-Ayin-i-Pakistan (TTAP), cautioned that if the Middle East conflict was prolonged, its effects could also have serious impacts on food security.
He called on the government to support the agricultural sector by providing subsidies on agricultural inputs, fertilisers and seeds to prevent a food crisis.
Abbas claimed that government employees were also “severely affected” by inflation, urging that they be given two months’ additional salaries on Eid.
PTI’s political committee also held a meeting on the current situation and released a statement on Saturday, strongly condemning the “cruel” price increases and terming them “an ‘inflation bomb’ on the public”.
It assailed the ruling coalition for “burdening the people with inflation instead of providing them relief, while the ruling elite’s own extravagance continues to escalate unabated”.
The party contended that the government should have “protected the public from the shocks of global market prices by reducing the heavy burden of the petroleum levy”.
The PTI political committee demanded that the government immediately reverse the price hikes on petroleum products and provide “maximum possible relief” to the public.
“On the one hand, there is an abundance of state aircraft and lavish perks for the officials of the government imposed through Form 47. On the other hand, petrol prices have been pushed out of reach for the poor public.”
“This contradiction proves that the rulers are only concerned with their own regal lifestyles,” the statement read.
The opposition party argued that ex-premier Imran Khan’s government had “provided every possible relief to the public” during the Covid-19 pandemic despite intense pressure on the global market.
In a separate post from the party’s official X account, the PTI said: “The Rs 55 per litre ‘petrol bomb’ detonated by Shehbaz Sharif’s illegitimate Form47 government will push ordinary Pakistanis deeper into economic crisis.”
“This ruthless lack of empathy stands in stark contrast to the extravagant spending on private jets, luxury vehicles, and all manner of privileges for the elite.”
In his statement, PTI Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram termed the fuel price hikes as the “worst petrol bomb in history”.
“Petrol and diesel [are made] expensive, but why are rulers’ planes and protocols cheap?” he asked, adding that the public was questioning why they must “tolerate expenses of rulers’ private jets”.
The PTI leader contended that by increasing fuel prices, the government had also made “transport, food items and everything else expensive”. He said the hikes would bring a “new storm of inflation”.
“Petrol is expensive, electricity is expensive, flour is expensive. Where should the public go? There is extravagant protocol for the rulers, [but] hell of an inflation for the public,” Akram decried.
He questioned what “sacrifices those seeking sacrifices from the public were giving”, asking whether the expenses of rulers’ planes and protocols could not be reduced.
“Petrol is expensive, employment is low, poverty is high; what sort of an economic policy is this?” Akram asked, urging the government to reduce the petroleum levy if they “were actually serious”.
PTI MNA Junaid Akbar said the government “used the global market as an excuse” to jack up the fuel prices by Rs55, but “maintained the taxes exceeding Rs100 on petrol for their luxuries”.
JUI-F terms hike ‘unacceptable’
Separately, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) General Secretary Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said the government attacked the people with an “inflation drone”.
Haideri termed the “immense hike in petrol prices unacceptable” and asked the government to reconsider the decision.
“The poor people of Pakistan can not tolerate the immense hike in fuel prices,” he said, adding the countries where the war was ongoing had not increased the prices of petrol to this extent.
He said the government had “broken the back of people” by increasing petrol prices, adding to the problems of the people who were already under the burden of inflation.
Meanwhile, JUI-F Spokesperson Aslam Ghouri said the government could have mitigated the effects of the tensions in the Middle East by reducing its expenditure.
“The government has fulfilled the demand of the International Monetary Fund by giving the excuse of war,” Ghouri said.
He further said the leaders proved their “incompetence” by putting additional economic burden on the people as the phenomenal hike in the prices of petrol and diesel “directly affects the life of the common man”.
He said that the hike would cause transport prices and those of necessary goods and products to skyrocket, adding that the government could have adopted a better strategy.
He also demanded that the government reconsider the decision to increase fuel prices, “reduce their excessive spending”, and take effective measures to control inflation.
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