Islamabad : The Shahbaz government has taken a devastating decision in advance at least 15 days by jacking – up petrol and diesel prices by Rs 55 per litre which took petrol rates for end consumers to Rs 322 and diesel’s by Rs 335.86 per litre.
This ” killing step ‘ was announced by 3- minister team, comprising deputy prime minister , Ishaq Dar , Finance minister , Muhammad Aurangzeb , and Petroleum minister , Ali Pervez , at mid night on Friday at an emergency presser.
By increasing Rs 55 per litre in petrol and diesel prices in advance at least by 15 days by referring ME war as its justification , the Shahbaz government will extort Rs 55 billion from the public in a week.
The govt ministers lied flatlywhile giving stats of increase in Brent prices in the global market since breaking out of war between US – Israel and Iran. Brent price in the international market was recorded at $ 94 a barrel as of March 6 , when Shahbaz govt decided to extort billions of rupees in the name of increase in the rates of diesel and petrol, but Petroleum minister , Ali Pervez Malik , lied to the nation by saying that Brent prices per barrel has jumped up to $ 150 per barrel in the last couple of days.
The government increased the petrol and diesel rates for the stocks , which are already available in the depots and other supply chain like refineries and petrol pumps. This anti- people decision is taken just to cheat the public and extort every penny from the end consumers. The crude which is getting costlier due to ME war is yet to be purchased , shipped and refined in Pakistan for the end consumers and this process takes minimum 15 to 21 days.
The government , OMCs and dealers are the only beneficiaries of Friday’s increase in petroleum product to which public terms as dacoity .
The government will get major share from the extorted billions of rupees through the increase in petrol and diesel rates and it will ultimately increase profit / margin of OMCs, dealers etc proportionally. The decision is going to make the lives of Pakistanis even more miserable. Its spiral affect will push a vast percentage of Pakistanis under the poverty line. During the current rule of PMLN , poverty has already increased to 23 percent. The government policies are basic reason of alarming increase in poverty in Pakistan.