Frequent increase in prices enmity with the masses; Government avoiding reforms to benefit nobility

Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders on Wednesday called the recent hike in petroleum prices ‘a petrol bomb’ which is to damage the economy and hurt the poor. It strongly rejected the government’s move terming it a blunder and threatened to take to streets if the decision was not reversed immediately.

The government must take back the fresh hike in petroleum prices, otherwise protests would be launched against it, said Patron Islamabad Chamber of Small Traders Shahid Rasheed Butt. Increase in the prices of petroleum prices is a confession by the government that it has little options to raise revenue through taxing the elite and burdening poor is the most convenient way for it, he added.

He said that government should have introduced tax reforms, targeted the untaxed rural elite, controlled gas and electricity theft and cracked down on money laundering to generate funds while avoiding inflation. Shahid Rasheed Butt said that petroleum prices were already high in the country as compared to the prices in the international market but the government decided to rob the poor to fill its own pockets.

The political parties representing opposition should take serious note of this matter of great national and public importance as prices are frequently been revised upward since last six months. The federal government had failed to improve tax administration, plug holes and give relief to the masses which amounts to enmity with masses, he noted. 

No one but the incumbent government was solely responsible for the present state of economy and price hike resulting in a great economic mess which has exposed their tall claims about the economic development.