Imran Khan Slams Pak Government Over Fuel Price Hike, Praises India Again

Imran Khan again praised India, saying the strategic ally of the US has managed to reduce fuel prices by PKR 25 per liter by buying cheaper oil from Russia.

Islamabad:

While invoking the name of India, former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan yet again slammed the Shehbaz Sharif government after the federal government hiked the petrol and diesel prices by PKR 30 per litre.

While criticizing the government, the Imran said this “insensitive government” has not pursued the deal made by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party with Russia for 30 per cent cheaper oil.

He went on to praise India, saying the strategic ally of the US has managed to reduce fuel prices by PKR 25 per liter by buying cheaper oil from Russia.

“Nation starting to pay the price for Imported govt’s subservience before foreign masters with 20% /Rs30 per liter 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,” Imran Khan said in a tweet.

“In contrast, India, a strategic ally of the US, has managed to reduce fuel prices by PKR 25 per liter by buying cheaper oil from Russia. Now our nation will suffer another massive dose of inflation at the hands of this cabal of crooks,” he said. he said in another tweet.

Pakistan on Thursday raised the prices of petroleum products by PKR 30 per litre, stating that the decision was taken to ensure the revival of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme.

Petrol will cost PKR 179.86, diesel PKR 174.15, kerosene oil PKR 155.56 and light diesel PKR 148.31, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Pakistan’s Finance Minister Miftah Ismail made the announcement at a press conference in Islamabad where he said the government had no option but to raise the prices, adding that “we are still bearing a loss of PKR 56 per liter on diesel” even under the new pricing.

Admitting that Shehbaz Sharif’s government was aware of the political repercussions of the decision, he added, “we will face criticism but the state and its interests are important to us and it is necessary for us to save it.”

Furthermore, Ismail said Pakistan could have gone in the “wrong direction” if the steps were not taken. The decision was a tough one for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he added.

The price hike came after talks between the Pakistani government and the IMF in Doha.

The talks were aimed at reaching an agreement on policies at the conclusion of the IMF’s seventh review of its USD 6 billion program for Pakistan, which has stalled since early April.

According to media reports, the IMF has made the resumption of the program conditional on the reversal of fuel and energy subsidies introduced by the previous PTI government, which have been termed unsustainable.

 (Except for the headline, this story is not edited by The Scoop India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)