Imran castigates govt over petrol price hike

Islamabad: A day after the Pakistan government raised fuel prices for the second time in the span of a week, former prime minister Imran Khan castigated the government for bowing down to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) while Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the privileged classes to make sacrifices and “adopt simplicity”, Dawn reported on Friday.
On Thursday, the government increased the prices of petroleum products by another Rs30 per litre in a move aimed at reviving the stalled IMF programme. Cumulatively, the government has raised petrol prices prices by Rs60 since May 26.
The rise in fuel prices and power tariffs via the removal of subsidies introduced by the PTI government is one of the main prerequisites that the incumbent coalition government needs to meet for the resumption of the $6 billion IMF programme, which has been stalled since April.
Khan hit out at the government for “succumbing to the IMF’s pressure”. He claimed that the current rulers had turned a blind eye to the nation’s suffering as their properties, families and assets were all based abroad.
He said that the government had increased petrol prices by a whopping Rs60, which would ultimately prove “bone-breaking” for the ordinary people.
The PTI chairman claimed his government had also faced pressure from the IMF to increase prices. “But we did not give in and managed finances from different resources in order to provide financial relief to the people”.
He said the incumbent government would act according to the “orders” it received from abroad, reiterating that it had been brought into power through a foreign conspiracy.