PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari addresses long march participants in Qazi Ahmed. Photo courtesy PPP Media Cell
Senior leaders maintain the reduction in fuel, electricity prices is a result of PPP’s ongoing long march and opposition’s plans to table no-confidence motion
Pakistan’s opposition parties on Monday claimed credit for the economic relief measures announced by Prime Minister Imran Khan, maintaining they were prompted by the Pakistan Peoples Party’s ongoing long march on the federal capital as well as the threat of a no-confidence motion in Parliament.
Earlier, the prime minister announced—contrary to global trends—that the government was slashing fuel prices by Rs. 10/liter and electricity tariffs by Rs. 5/unit to provide “relief” to citizens. This came within weeks of various government ministers, including Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, claiming that the government could no longer afford to subsidize fuel and electricity due to the state of the country’s economy.
During an address to participants of the ‘Awami Long March,’ PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari congratulated them for the price reductions. “[P.M.] Imran Khan’s legs are trembling now,” he claimed, adding that the long march had not even entered Islamabad and it was already showing results.
Sherry Rehman, who is the parliamentary leader of the PPP in the Senate, also claimed that the prime minister’s announcement was a result of Bhutto-Zardari’s long march. “We have just started a long march, more relief measures will be announced before PPP reaches Islamabad,” she predicted in a posting on Twitter.
PPP senior leader Khursheed Shah, meanwhile, said that the PPP’s long march had “forced” the prime minister to focus on the issues facing citizens. However, he stressed, it was too late to stop the momentum for Khan’s ouster.
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Information Secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb, in a series of tweets ahead of the address, described it as “time wasting” and questioned the prime minister on how he could “take the nation into confidence when he has already lost the trust of people.” Wondering if the prime minister would seek an apology for his “false promises to the nation and false accusations he leveled at his political opponents,” she said she hoped it would be his “last speech” as prime minister.
After the address, she said the decision to reduce petrol and electricity prices was a failed attempt to save his job. “His [P.M. Khan’s] decision indicates growing fear of no-trust move against him in National Assembly,” she claimed.
The PMLN’s Miftah Ismail, a former finance minister, also questioned the timing of the relief. “Days ago the government raised petrol prices by Rs. 12 and electricity prices by Rs. 6,” he said on Twitter. “Today the government decreased their prices by Rs. 10 and Rs. 5. Did economics change in the last few days or has politics? PTI never has money to give relief to the people. But to save [Imran Khan’s] job it finds a way!” he added.
PMLN leader Pervaiz Rasheed, likewise, said that Imran Khan used to slander opponents and now feared losing his own seat.