PRESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari deserves appreciation for sensitizing the Government about its policies that have compounded miseries of the people and urging it to take all possible measures to provide relief to the common man.
During a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he gave voice to the woes of the people by instructing the Government to curb inflationary pressures and ensure the availability of essential commodities. In a related development, Senators expressed strong concern over uncalled-for decision of the Government to jack up prices of fuel every now and then, terming it ‘economic oppression’.
There is a general impression that the goodwill the Government earned because of its dynamic diplomacy and formidable defence of the motherland was effectively countered by the mindless pursuit of the policy to raise money at the cost of the common man. There is also a feeling that the Government has used the Middle-East crisis to cover up its failures on the tax collection front and putting an extraordinary burden on people of Pakistan at a time when they direly needed relief. It is because of this that the head of the state pointed out that despite the difficult geographical and regional situation, tensions in the Middle East and disruption of the supply chain, maximum relief should be provided to the people. Regrettably, instead of taking concrete measures to provide relief to the masses, the Government is trying to play with galleries by announcing extension of the so-called austerity measures despite the fact that these measures provided worthless as these had no bearing on the life of the people. The measures extended included a 50 per cent reduction in fuel allowance for official vehicles, with the exemption of operational vehicles such as ambulances and public buses. Other steps included grounding 60pc of official vehicles and a complete ban on foreign visits by ministers and government officials, excluding those deemed essential for the country’s interests, as specified the last time.
Fuel prices recorded a sharp increase in the country following oil supply disruption from the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for oil and gas shipping. Prices have also surged in other countries but in Pakistan these have been increased disproportionately and as a result today consumers are getting fuel at almost double the price of the pre-war period. Most callous was the decision of the Government last Friday to hike prices of both petrol and diesel at a time when people were legitimately expecting a downward revision. People of Pakistan are fleeced in the name of petroleum levy and other taxes and this policy has dramatically increased prices of almost all products and services. It was because of height of injustice that Senator Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, who is Parliamentary Leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, slammed the Government over the latest increase in petroleum prices, calling it a “petrol bomb”, reflecting the rulers’ “incompetence, economic mismanagement and insensitivity toward the public.” He rejected the government’s justification for the increase and argued that global oil prices had in fact declined but instead of reducing prices, the Government had sharply hiked petroleum levies. Comparing Pakistan with regional countries, Ali Zafar pointed out that petrol prices in New Delhi were approximately Rs278 per litre and in Dhaka around Rs310 per litre, meaning Pakistanis were paying Rs100 to Rs140 more per litre. Senators belonging to other parties also criticized the Government’s decision to hike prices of POL products unjustifiably, pointing out that the increase will affect the economy and agriculture badly besides pushing more people below the poverty line. We hope that the Opposition will continue to play its role by pressuring the Government for its exploitative policies and the authorities concerned would review their approach in line with directions of the President.
