Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan on Thursday slammed the current Shehbaz Sharif government over the fuel price hike in Pakistan.
While criticising the Pak Government, Imran praised India, yet again. He said that India, a strategic ally of the US, has good relations with Russia as well, and the country managed to reduce fuel prices by PKR 25/litre by buying cheaper oil from Russia.
"Nation starting to pay the price for Imported govt's subservience before foreign masters with 20% /Rs30 per litre hike in petrol and diesel prices - the highest single price hike in our history. The incompetent & insensitive Govt has not pursued our deal with Russia for 30% cheaper oil. In contrast, India, strategic ally of the US, has managed to reduce fuel prices by PKR 25 per litre by buying cheaper oil from Russia. Now our nation will suffer another massive dose of inflation at the hands of this cabal of crooks," Imran Khan tweeted.
Ousted Pakistan PM’s reaction came shortly after the Pakistan government increased the petrol and diesel prices by PKR 30 per litre. The price of petrol will be at PKR 179.86, diesel at PKR 174.15, kerosene oil at PKR 155.56 and light diesel at PKR 148.31, the Dawn newspaper reported.
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The Pakistan government on Thursday increased the prices of petroleum products citing that the decision was taken to ensure the revival of the International Monetary Fund(IMF) programme.
Announcing the price hike, Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail at a press conference in Islamabad, said that the Shehbaz government had no other option but to increase the prices in the state’s interest. He further added that the decision was tough for Pak PM Shehbaz Sharif and the government was aware of the political repercussions following this decision. He also added, "we are still bearing a loss of PKR 56 per litre on diesel" even under the new pricing.
The decision of price hike came after talks between the Pakistan government and IMF in Doha.
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As per the media reports, the IMF agreed to the resumption of the USD 6 billion programme for Pakistan, which has been stalled since early April, on the condition to lift the fuel and energy subsidies introduced by the previous PTI government. The subsidies have been termed unsustainable.
