ISLAMABAD: The opposition lambasted the government in the Senate on Friday for increasing fuel prices up to Rs60 in less than a week as Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani failed to keep the house in order amid strong protests, sloganeering, and walkout.
The Senate plunged into chaos after the opposition lawmakers pointed out that the federal government announced a sudden increase of Rs30 per litre on petroleum prices on Thursday night.
The charged opposition senators, led by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Dr Shahzad Waseem, encircled the desk of the chairman Senate. Carrying placards, they chanted the slogan “imported hakoomat namanzoor” (imported government, unacceptable).
The opposition senators then encircled the desk of Leader of the House, Azam Nazeer Tarar, and continued with the protest.
Sanjrani called the Senate’s sergeants-at-arms in a bid to put the house in order but the opposition remained undeterred. The chairman Senate then threatened the protesting senators that he would “suspend” them and bar them from entering the house but the opposition senators appeared unmoved. Later, they settled in their seats.
Speaking on the floor of the house, the opposition leader said that the present government claimed, when it was in opposition, that it would reduce the fuel prices to Rs70 after coming to power.
“They said electricity price would be Rs10 (per unit) that has been increased to Rs28. They were to reduce dollar’s value against rupee to Rs100 but ended up exceeding Rs200. Their hopeless failure is for everyone to see. This government is nothing but a horrifying tale of an absolute destruction. These rulers are a total disaster. They have thrown this country into an unending debacle,” he said.
“In our government, the electricity would run in power transmission lines. But they have put electricity in the consumer bills,” the senator deplored.
Waseem said the “hands of this government are in the pockets of the people.”
The opposition leader demanded that all the ministers and other government functionaries cut down their fuel expenditure by removing the provision of free fuel for the government officials.
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“They say the country is going through difficult times. I demand that they stop getting free fuel,” he added, as the opposition senators thumped their desks in appreciation.
The opposition then walked out of the house in protest against the fuel prices’ surge.
Leader of the house responded that the opposition was trying to “turn the house into a political rally site.”
It was the former government that put the “noose of the IMF (International Monetary Fund) around our necks and now they are crying foul,” he said.
Finance and Revenue State Minister Dr Aisha Ghaus Pasha said the opposition took a “180-degree U-turn on its stance regarding IMF.”
“Yesterday, they (the opposition) were saying the IMF should be taken into the loop. Today, they have taken a complete U-turn,” she said.
“We have not imposed any tax on petroleum products and only passed on the purchasing cost to the consumers,” she said.
Anyone earning less than Rs40,000 monthly is eligible to avail the subsidy on petroleum and edible items, she added.
The state minister urged the opposition to come up with their suggestions for the cause of Pakistan’s economy and security “instead of playing politics on this matter.”
Former finance minister Shaukat Tarin said his government went to IMF due to the economy they inherited from the previous government. “But we raised objections to different demands of IMF— we took the right decisions that helped revive the economy,” he said, adding that the current government increased power tariff by 47 per cent in addition to increasing the fuel prices.
Kamil Ali Agha from Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) moved an adjournment motion on hike in petroleum prices. He said Tarin introduced Rs400 billion subsidy to provide relief to the masses against an increase in petroleum prices in the former government. “Yesterday, the masses were bombarded with two ‘atom bombs’; fuel and electricity price hike,” he said.
The PML-Q senator deplored that a factory owner has been elevated as finance minister. “Miftah Ismail should have mercy on the children. He has increased the price of a chocolate from Rs5 to Rs20,” Agha said.
He also criticised Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former finance minister Ishaq Dar, who is currently in London, for the government’s failed economic policies that have caused unprecedented inflation.
The house is scheduled to meet again on Monday.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022