Islamabad [Pakistan]: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shahbaz Sharif has lashed out at Prime Minister Imran Khan-led ruling PTI government over hike in petroleum prices and said people are being crushed due to inflation, local media reported. Meanwhile, Pakistan Peoples Party warned of protests if the prices of petroleum products are not slashed. On Friday, the PTI government announced a hike in the price of petrol by Pakistani Rs 8.03 per litre, a day after Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the nation that fuel prices would have to undergo an increase. Reacting to the price hike, Sharif said that since the incumbent government came to power, it had brought the entire nation to “the ration card”, Geo News reported. “Imran Khan lets the axe of inflation fall on the public and then wonders why inflation is surging in the country,” Sharif tweeted. “Over the past three years, the price of edible oil has increased by over 130%,” he added. The PML-N president said that the price of edible oil going up from Rs160 to Rs 369 is unjustified, he said, adding that a “storm of inflation” had followed the prime minister’s announcement of a relief package for the masses, Geo News reported. “The hike in prices of petroleum products is proof that the government does not care about the poor,” he said. He further stated that while the price of petrol had not surged past the Rs 145 per litre mark, the government had exceeded the limits of ineptitude, corruption and incompetence. “Increasing the prices of petrol and diesel by Rs 8 per litre will also have a direct effect on prices of other items. It has become difficult for the common man to live,” he said. He added that it was in the best interests of the entire nation and the masses that the prime minister “goes home instead of wreaking further havoc”, adding that inflation, unemployment and “economic destruction” do not go away merely via allegations of corruption. Opposition party PPP also reacted to the hike in petroleum prices, demanding the government to slash prices immediately or else be prepared for “Dama Dam Mast Qalandar.” “The masses should be ready. The PPP will soon announce its anti-government protest programme,” said Shazia Marri. She said the prime minister had harmed the public instead of providing them relief. “Imran Khan has taken anti-publ The MQM’s Rabta Committee also condemned the hike in prices of petroleum products, stressing that it will have a direct effect on the prices of essential items. “The public have already been crushed under the weight of inflation,” stated the party’s Rabta Committee. “Shifting the entire burden of globally increasing prices of food items on the public is not a wise decision.”
