KARACHI: Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi chapter Amir Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman has strongly condemned recent hike in oil prices and demanded of the outgoing government to withdraw the decision immediately.

He termed the hike as economic massacre of poor masses. He said that inflation had already hit the masses hard and to add insult to the injury the government has increased the prices of petroleum products.

He said that the middle class in the country has been shrinking since long but the ruling elite have nothing to with it. On one hand, the government is spending foreign exchange overwhelmingly to purchase luxury vehicles for the bureaucracy, while on the other it is dropping ‘petrol and electricity bombs’ on masses, he said.

He said that the hike in petroleum products’ prices will directly affect the poor masses by increasing the prices of all daily use items, particularly food stuff. He said that the government has failed to walk the talk and providing any relief to masses. It didn’t let trickledown the effects of downwards petroleum prices in international market. He said that people have already been facing multiple crises and the recent development will hit them hard.

He added that Karachiites will be holding a sit-in outside the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board headquarters against prevailing water crises in the megacity.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023