Petrol price hike sparks NA protests as JI announces nationwide action

Opposition members staged a protest in the National Assembly on Friday against the government’s sharp increase in petroleum prices, with lawmakers chanting slogans while surrounding the speaker’s podium in a show of defiance.

The government on Thursday further increased petrol prices by Rs137 per litre to a record-high of Rs458.4 after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to impose more taxes on consumers.

The Rs458.4 per litre new price of petrol is also far higher than the increase in the international market as PM Shehbaz decided to increase the petroleum levy to a record Rs160.61 per litre on petrol.

It was the second major increase in the fuel prices in less than a month after PM Shehbaz increased the diesel and petrol prices by Rs55 per litre last month. The cumulative increase in the petrol price within a month stands at 63%, and that of the high-speed diesel at 75%.

During the protest, some opposition members tore up copies of the assembly’s agenda in frustration. They insisted on addressing the House over the petroleum price hike, but Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah told them he would allow points of order only after the question hour.

The protest continued despite the warning, and the floor was temporarily given to opposition member Junaid Akbar Khan. Khan, criticising the government, said, “This incompetent and thieving government was imposed on Pakistan. Last night, this imposed government dropped a petrol bomb on the people.”

Khan also spoke against a state institution, prompting the deputy speaker to respond sternly: “If you continue speaking against institutions in this manner, I will not allow the session to proceed.”

Other opposition members, including JUI’s Noor Alam Khan, called on the speaker to allow parliamentarians to discuss the soaring prices of petroleum products, highlighting the public’s growing frustration over rising fuel and electricity costs.

Following the protest, the National Assembly session was adjourned until Monday.

Read: Oil tanker contractors threaten halt of tankers after sharp fuel price hike

The government increased the prices after it failed to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to give more subsidies. The IMF capped the maximum subsidies on fuel at Rs152 billion.

However, the most shocking action of the government was to increase the petroleum levy rate to Rs161 per litre on petrol to raise additional funds for cross-subsidising the diesel prices. The government outsourced the state’s core function to protect its citizens to the petrol consumers.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said “the brutal increase in the price of petrol and diesel is unacceptable” and announced a protest movement across the country from Friday in a post on X.

JI’s Munim Zafar, during a press conference in Karachi on Friday, demanded the government roll back the petrol price hike and reiterated the start of the protest movement across Karachi, with a demonstration scheduled outside Millennium Mall at 8pm.

Meanwhile, former finance minister Miftah Ismail also raised eyebrows at the increase in government levy, stating that the government last night raised petrol prices by Rs79 per litre, but at the same time decided to “raise taxes on petrol” by Rs55 for a total increase of Rs134 per litre. “And it keeps saying it doesn’t want to burden the people and wants to lift the burden itself,” he remarked.

Former Sindh governor Muhammad Zubair also questioned why Pakistan has “the most expensive petrol in the region.” According to him, petrol costs Rs286 in India, Rs280 in Bangladesh, Rs322 in Nepal, and Rs406 in Sri Lanka as compared to Pakistan’s Rs459.

“Only one reason: We are the most incompetent and corrupt compared to all these countries,” the former governor asserted.

He further noted that government austerity measures have been subpar, amounting to only “minor temporary 2-month austerity”.

Another ex-finance minister Asad Umar compared prices in India and Pakistan, saying that Pakistan’s petrol prices are currently 48% higher and diesel prices 92% higher than in neighbouring India.

He argued that the government’s “unwillingness to tax the rich and powerful” has left ordinary citizens to bear the burden, with “most of the taxes being collected from the working middle class” instead.

Former finance minister of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra also took to X, saying, “A govt that wants relief has not just raised the price of petrol, it has raised the petroleum levy from Rs105 to Rs161 per litre. That is the highest ever tax on petrol in the history of Pakistan.”

Moreover, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Natasha Dultana said that with petrol prices hiked overnight with “no warning, just another blow” to the people. “How long are citizens expected to carry this burden?”

Barrister Saad Rasool predicted that the recent price hike “will push millions of hardworking people below the poverty line.”

Former PTI minister Fawad Chaudhry deemed that the country’s population had now become “Naseem Shah, so they have imposed a fine!”