PM Shahbaz shifts blame on ex-PTI govt for recent petrol price hike
Holding the former government of PTI responsible for the recent massive hike in the prices of petroleum products, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that, the government was “left with no choice” because of “those who struck the worst ever deal” with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
In a statement on microblogging site Twitter, the prime minister said he was well aware of the effects of rising fuel prices.
Defending the recent rise in fuel prices, he said the government had no choice but to raise prices because of the IMF agreement, which was signed by the PTI government.
He said that he would soon take the people into confidence on the merits of the PTI-IMF agreement and we would come out of these economic difficulties.
Pointing to the PTI, he said: “I am amazed that the conscience of those who have made the worst deal ever with the IMF and made clearly wrong economic decisions can face the truth.
“How can they pretend to be innocent when the nation is going through this because of what they did?”
He also hinted that details would be revealed soon.
On the other hand, PTI leader Asad Umar, while reacting to the increase in petrol prices by the government, wrote that just as robbers enter a house in the dark of night and commit robbery, so in the same way, the imported government plunders petrol and diesel prices on the pockets of the people in the dark of night.
Former Information Minister and PTI leader Chaudhry Fawad Hussain wrote that the role of conspiracy to change the government should be exposed. Now even many dissident members are ready to come to the commission as pardoned witnesses on how they were forced to leave PTI. Political instability has torn the economy apart. Today, the common man is facing a monster of inflation.
PTI focal person Hamad Azhar wrote that, this team [Miftah’s team] has no understanding and no feeling, the storm of inflation has come and the flood of unemployment is coming, all of them are satisfied that they have come to power.
Notably, in a period of 20 days, the government had increased the prices of petroleum products for the third time last night.
Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail had announced in a news conference that the price of petrol increased by Rs24.3 taking the price of petrol to Rs234 per litre, price of diesel increased by Rs59.16 taking the price of diesel to Rs263.31.
