PTI slams govt over Rs1.8bn package for bureaucrats

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has strongly criticized the government's economic policies, particularly its simultaneous increase in fuel prices and the approval of a special allowance package for top bureaucrats. PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram highlighted the disparity, stating that ordinary Pakistanis face escalating fuel costs while elites receive free fuel and luxuries.

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The rulers have perfected a dual system: free fuel and luxuries for the elite, and daily fuel bombs for the public. Agriculture, transport and industry are being systematically executed under the excuse of international markets.

Petrol prices have reportedly reached Rs335.18 per liter and diesel Rs383.46 per liter. Akram observed that the government has established a "dual system" benefiting the elite at the public's expense, systematically harming agriculture, transport, and industry under the guise of international market fluctuations.

PTI is demanding an immediate rollback of recent fuel price hikes, a significant reduction in petroleum levies, and the complete abolition of the daily pricing mechanism. Furthermore, the party called for the cancellation of the Rs1.8 billion bureaucratic bonus, which it deems unjustified given the economic hardship faced by the general populace.

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PTI demands the immediate rollback of the six-day cumulative hike; a sharp cut in the Rs80 per litre petroleum levy and the overall Rs1.7 trillion levy target; and the complete scrap of the disastrous daily pricing mechanism.

On the agricultural front, PTI questioned the government's decision to import 1.1 million metric tonnes of wheat. Akram described this move as a "transparent fraud," especially after the government had claimed a bumper harvest. The party raised concerns about the mysterious disappearance of 4.5 million tonnes of wheat stock, demanding full transparency on production and stock figures, a forensic audit, and the declaration of an agricultural emergency.

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Rs1.8 billion bure­aucratic bonus should be cancelled.

Additionally, PTI addressed issues in Sindh, calling for an independent audit and cancellation of results for the Sindh Public Service Commission's 2024 exams, which they claim have been politicized. In Azad Kashmir, the party condemned the ruling alliance's actions, particularly the dispatch of electric buses adorned with political imagery, funded by Punjab taxpayers, as blatant electoral bribery.

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After claiming a bumper harvest of over 29m tonnes against a domestic consumption of 27m tonnes, he said the sudden shortage and the mysterious disappearance of 4.5m tonnes raised questions of monumental incompetence.