Opp slams govt for power tariff hike

The opposition on Saturday assailed the government after the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) approved an increase of Rs3.10 per unit in electricity tariff, saying the miseries of the people could only be remedied by ousting the incumbent government.

The sharpened finger-pointing comes amid the opposition’s continued touting of high inflation as a pivotal rallying cry against the government. Rejecting the increase in electricity tariff, the PML-N president and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly said in a statement that the ruling PTI had done nothing to provide relief to the masses during its nearly four years in power.

Shehbaz said the miseries of the people could only be ended with the removal of “corrupt and incompetent” rulers. “Now the time is ripe for the people to issue a no-confidence motion against them. We will rid the country of this tyrant regime.” It has been proved that the government has only plans for inflation and corruption, he remarked.

Shehbaz said instead of taking steps to ease inflation, the government was only increasing the suffering of the people. “Imran Niazi [Prime Minister Imran Khan] should step down instead of taking people’s lives through skyrocketing inflation,” he added.

‘A complete failure’

Likewise, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman also lashed out at the government’s policies, saying that the incumbent government had failed on all fronts from foreign policy to the economy. Addressing a religious event near Lahore, Fazl asked if the country’s economy was growing, why the finance ministry did not get an appreciation award.

Fazl, who also heads the anti-government alliance, PDM, also questioned the government’s claims of running a successful foreign policy, saying “then why was Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi not given any award”.

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“[PM] Imran Khan went to China where the Chinese leadership held talks with him via video link because China is not happy with Pakistan over the matter of CPEC,” he claimed.

He was referring to the recent ceremony where PM Imran awarded appreciation certificates to the top ten best performing federal ministers.

In order of performance, the top ministries are communications; planning and development; poverty alleviation and social safety division; education and professional training; human rights, industries and production; national security division; commerce; interior, and national food security and research. Fazl said PM Imran was distributing awards among ministers while the common man was “suffering under poverty and unprecedented inflation”.

‘Electricity out of reach’

Meanwhile, PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz also took a dig at the government, saying that this is the only government in which the people have been forced to carry out load-shedding against their own selves.

In a tweet, she said that with the daily increase in electricity tariff, electricity has gone out of reach of the people.