Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Communication Dr Shahbaz Gill admitted that the government had to increase the prices of petroleum products as per the trend in the international market, expressing the hope the petroleum prices would decrease in few months.
People and politicians of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and Pakistan Peoples Party have rejected the record-high increase in petroleum prices terming it a means to open up a deluge of inflation in the country.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday that increase in petroleum products’ prices was an act of oppression on the part of the government which was not only ‘corrupt’ but also a ‘liar’.
In a statement, he said there was no end in sight to the inflation as long as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) was in office. “People will have to come out on streets to register their protest against this ‘cruel’ government,” Shehbaz said, and vowed that the PML-N would not relent unless it got the masses rid of the government which had unleashed inflation at them.
The PML-N president said these were not only the POL prices, which had been skyrocketing for the last several months, but overall inflation and unemployment too had made the lives of people a ‘hell’. “This is not only petrol whose price has shot up; as a matter of fact these are the prices of items of essential use which have gone up,” he opined.
“What else is to the credit of ‘selected’ Prime Minister Imran Khan and members of his cabinet except rising inflation,” he remarked.
In a statement, PML-N leader Hamza Shehbaz blasted the government for hiking POL prices. He termed the astronomical rise an economic murder of people. He rued that after every fortnight, the government jacked up petrol prices. He deplored that the government had broken the backbone of poor and middle-class people.
While talking some private television channels, people expressed their anger and dismay over Rs12.3 per litre hike in petrol prices. They said that it would unleash an unstoppable tsunami of inflation. They were of the view that the government was totally insensitive towards the problems of people and was pushing them to the swamp of poverty. They said transport fare would automatically be increased with the rise in POL prices. It would trigger an inflation spiral, they added.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) vice President Sherry Rehman said on Wednesday that the petroleum prices in Pakistan have been hiked despite the fact the price declined yesterday in the international market and now it is in interest of country as well as people that government of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) is sent packing.
This is a need of hour for the government to understand the ground realities and provide relief to the masses. If the same increase in hike will continue, it will definitely cause troubles for the government.
