Opposition parties in NA stage walk-out over oil price hike

MQM's Haider Abbas Rizvi said that if the decision is not withdrawn in three days' time, his party would announce its strategy.— File photo ISLAMABAD: Three main opposition parties on Tuesday staged a walk-out from the National Assembly over the increase in prices of petroleum products. The parties staging the token walk-out included Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid (PML-Q) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). Legislators belonging to these parties registered their protest over the move which they argued would further aggravate the already soaring prices in the country. They rejected the increase and demanded the government to withdraw the decision. MQM’s Haider Abbas Rizvi said his party, which in the past had successfully pressurised the government into reversing its previous decision on petroleum price hike, did not favour the recent increase as well. Rizvi said that although the government had decided that a parliamentary committee would review the matter before prices could be increased, it gave the go-ahead on price hike without the committee’s approval. Rizvi said that if the decision was not withdrawn in three days’ time, the MQM would announce its strategy. PML-N’s Aftab Sheikh urged the government to seriously reconsider the hike. Moreover, PML-Q’s Sheikh Waqas Akram endorsed the views of PML-N and MQM regarding the increase in the prices of petroleum products and asked the government not to opt for such ventures. He said prices of petroleum, one way or the other, affected prices of every commodity in every sector. The government on Monday increased by 9.9 per cent the prices of all petroleum products in a bid to pass on the partial impact of the steep rise of international oil prices. This is the single biggest surge in oil prices in 32 months since July 2008 and is expected to generate about Rs5-6 billion revenue for the government, depending on the fluctuation in the international market which has been caused by the political turmoil in oil-producing countries of the Middle East and North Africa. In fact, the recent instability in the Middle East, which does not appear to be settling down any time soon, has led to a recent hike in oil prices. The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani — who at present is holding the petroleum portfolio. The meeting was also attended by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh and secretaries of finance and petroleum.