With no regulatory authority whatsoever to regulate the car industry, the common public is being fleeced by the greedy manufacturers who have almost doubled the prices of vehicles within a span of just a few months. That is a uniquely Pakistani phenomenon because due to the slump in the international markets and large-scale reduction in sale of automobiles throughout the world, the prices of all cars, used or new, have gone down drastically worldwide. In Pakistan, the car manufacturers have created a supply shock by reducing the manufacturing of vehicles thus enabling them to raise prices to an artificial level. As international car companies lose money the world over, our car manufacturers have kept their revenues intact despite a nominal increase in their overall manufacturing costs. The 'bought-up ' men in the Ministry of Industries are looking the other way while the general public is being ripped off. This artificial price hike can be checked by the public if they simply stop buying vehicles for a period of say three months thus forcing the manufacturers to ultimately bring down the prices to an affordable level with only reasonable profits to accrue. -DR IRFAN ZAFAR, Islamabad, via e-mail, February 6.