ISLAMABAD: Top opposition leaders Saturday blasted Prime Minister Imran Khan for the hike in the petrol prices on the eve of New Year and asked him to quit for “pursuing anti-people policies”.
The government increased the prices of petrol and high-speed diesel (HSD) by Rs4 per litre, according to a statement issued by the Finance Division late on Friday.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari took Imran Khan to task for the PoL prices hike, asking Imran Khan to quit instead of dropping the petrol bomb on the people.
Following the PoL prices hike, the price of petrol was increased from Rs140.82 to Rs144.82, that of HSD from Rs137.62 to Rs141.62, of kerosene from Rs109.53 to Rs113.53 and that of light diesel oil from Rs107.06 to Rs111.06, according to the Finance Division’s statement.
In a statement, Bilawal deplored that Imran Khan had very proudly declared that 2021 would be a year of prosperity. Now the year 2022 has dawned, but there are no signs of affluence, he added.
He was of the view that every New Year proved costlier in terms of price hike and inflation than the previous one but the government kept blaming the previous regimes.
He reminisced that in the PPP tenure, there was the worst kind of global economic meltdown, but the PPP government did not crush people under the burden of inflation.
He said the only way to get rid of inflation is to get rid of the Imran Khan government.
Bilawal called upon the government to reduce the prices of petroleum products according to the prices in the international market.
Shehbaz Sharif, in his statement, lashed out at the government for increasing the POL prices, asking Imran it would have been far better if he had quit instead of dropping the petrol bomb on the people.
He held that in order to save the nation from inflation, economic disaster and unemployment, the present cruel regime must come to an end.
The PTI government even could not bear to see the nation celebrating the New Year and snatched their joy by announcing to hike the petrol prices, he added.
He lamented the exploitation, apathy and indifferent attitude of the government.
Like Bilawal, Shehbaz called on the prime minister to resign instead of “burying the people alive”.
“Do not punish the nation for your foolishness,” he hit out at the premier.
