| PTI comes down hard on govt over hike in fuel, electricity prices to strike deal with IMF
| Tehreek-e-Insaf senators gather in front of Senate Chairman’s dais, raise slogans

 

ISLAMABAD   -   The Senate on Friday witnessed complete pandemonium after the opposition Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) protested in the house over government’s deci-sion to increase prices of fuel and electricity to strike a deal with the Monetary Fund (IMF) to get its $ 6 billion loan programme revived.

The opposition PTI gathered in front of the main dais of Chairman Senate Mu-hammad Sadiq Sanjrani while holding placards in their hands and raised slo-gans of “imported government unacceptable.”

There was ruckus in the house when opposition Jamaat-e-Islami Senator Mushtaq Ahmed wanted to speak on the issue of hike in prices of fuel and electricity.

The opposition was not ready to hear the repeated requests of chairman Senate to clear the area and have their seats. On this, the chair warned the PTI lawmakers not to cross the limit, otherwise he would have to take action and suspend the membership of those involved in commotion.

Chairman Senate Sanjrani especially addressing the PTI lawmaker Faisal Javed Khan said that he should ensure decorum of the house otherwise he would fol-low the suspension issue to ECP to get those lawmakers de-seated who are in-volved in protest. He also gave a similar warning to PPP Senator Bahramand Khan Tangi.

The opposition criticized Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for leading large delegations during his foreign visits and giving huge advertisements in news-papers about his tour to Turkey. However, some lawmakers belonging to the treasury and the opposition agreed to a proposal that the government should curtail fuel-related costs through various steps.

At the outset of the sitting, Leader of the Opposition in the House Dr Shah-zad Waseem said that the whole nation was protesting on the decision of the government to increase the prices of petroleum products and electricity and their adjournment motion should be taken up first to hold a debate on the is-sue. After this, the opposition staged a protest walkout from the house but returned to the house only to launch another protest.

After the question hour and disposal of some agenda items, PML-Q Senator Kamil Ali Agha opening the debate said that the decision to hike in prices has proved that the ruling coalition was brought into power under a foreign conspiracy. “Such unprecedented hikes in prices in fuel and electricity have never been made by any government in the past.”

Agha labeled the decision of increase in prices of fuel and electricity with the “dropping of an atomic bomb” on the masses. He said that Rs 60 increase in prices of fuel within a week and Rs 8 per unit increase in electricity rates would cause a high increase in prices of essential commodities and eve-rything. Besides this, the government has increased prices of ghee and edible oil as well, he pointed out.

Former finance minister and PTI Senator Shaukat Tarin taking part in the de-bate said that the PTI government had stood up after seeing that the condi-tions of the IMF were strict. He said that had confronted the international lender on its demand to increase rates of power bills and to withdraw Rs 700 billion exemptions. “I negotiated with it for six month and did not sign the 6th tranche.” He said that the incumbent government has not only increased prices of petroleum products by up to Rs 30, the other day, but also in-creased the base rate of power by 47 percent. “They are doing all this due to the conditionalities of the IMF.”

Tarin said that margins of local oil refineries for diesel have increased from Rs 14 per liter to Rs 70 per liter in April and May and to Rs 30 to Rs 50 for petrol.  He urged the government that it should have asked the refin-eries to decrease the margins to give relief to the masses.

The former finance minister said that the country’s economy was in tailspin as the government was not taking decisions and the common man is feeling the heat due to the reason. Tarin conceded that he had approached a respectable personality in March to inform him that the economy is growing but it needs continuity. “If you will not give it continuity, it will scatter,” he said, adding that his prophecy proved true.” He predicted that hyper inflation would start soon and demanded that the government should resign and announce early elections.

Law Minister and Leader of the House Azam Nazeer Tarar said that the opposi-tion should avoid point scoring as its hands were not clean while they re-mained in power around four years. He said that it were PTI and its allies who had availed the IMF loan programme while in government and now they are trying to give them a lesson that the country’s state of economy was in worst conditions. “You left the country at the verge of default,” he said.

Minister of State for Finance Ayesha Ghaus Pasha called on PTI members not to play politics on economy and desist from misleading the people. The opposi-tion should help the government in reviving the country’s economy and bring-ing structural reforms, she said amid an uproar as some PTI senators kept smashing documents, in their hands, on the desks.