PML-N President and National Assembly Opposition Leader Shehbaz Sharif has strongly condemned the possible 35% increase in gas tariffs and demanded an immediate reversal of the step.
In a statement, Shehbaz said these “tariff bombs” were being dropped on people because the government was fulfilling the conditions of the IMF budget which was the consequence of the “most terrible deal with the international money lender”.
“The government shamelessly lied to the entire nation about presenting a budget without any fresh taxes. Every single word said by the PML-N has turned out to be true about the budget and financial policies of the disastrous Imran government,” he said.
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“PML-N had warned that there would be a tsunami of new taxes and inflation in the country after this fraud budget. The entire country has seen now what a farce that budget was.”
He said people did not have the capacity to bear more financial burden and the “PTI government with its vicious steps was pushing the country towards a civil war”.
He said no amount of increase in tariffs would solve the financial problems of the country because the core reason for the “troubled economy was [PM] Imran government's corruption and incompetence”.
“This tariff hike in electricity and gas would only make life worse for the people. It would lead to an inflation chain reaction which would raise the price of chapatti,” he maintained.
“They raised the electricity tariff by Rs5 earlier this week and this gas tariff increase in addition to 141% earlier, would hammer the last nail in the coffin,” he added.
“This government caused the ‘9/11 of Pakistan's economy’ and it is now making ‘Tora Bora of the nation’ with the unending inflation. This shows that this government did not even understand the ABC of economic policies.”
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Shehbaz asked PM Imran to “spare the nation” and instead of committing “mass murder of Pakistanis, step down and go home”.
“Why should the people pay the price for Imran's incompetence, inabilities, and ignorance?”
He recalled the government had said that tariffs hike would lessen the debt of gas companies but the “truth is that these companies are indebted more now”.
It had been two years but these companies have neither completed their audit nor did they make their accounts public, he stated.
“Even the gas companies have been destroyed by ‘Imran's incompetence’. Pakistan today is providing world's most expensive LNG [to the people] and has the highest electricity and gas tariffs in South East Asia.”
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