Press Release
Pakistan’s Regime Worsens the People’s Hardship in Ramadhan by Raising Prices of Petrol to Over Rs 100 per Litre!

Whilst the people frantically bought food supplies ahead of expected price surges in Ramadhan, the cruel regime announced increases in fuel prices, including petrol. This will further increase food prices as it will increase the cost of transporting food from agricultural areas to shops. Headed by the newly appointed IMF favorite and economic hit man, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) raised the prices of petrol by Rs 9.54 per litre which became effective on 5 May 2019 after federal approval, smashing the Rs 100 per litre mark. It was upon the regime to reduce the prices of fuel and ensure the increased production of food, to prevent the predictable rises in food prices during Ramadhan, due to the increased demand for plentiful and quality Sehri and Iftaar. Instead it will invoke the curse of Fasting Muslims, by increasing the financial burdens which have already broken the backs of most homes.

O Muslims of Pakistan! Our economic suffering will continue to worsen whilst we have rulers that rule us by other than all that Allah (swt) has revealed. Instead of implementing the Islamic ruling on petrol, the regime is implementing the IMF guidelines that violate the right that Islam gave us over public property. RasulAllah (saaw) said, «الْمُسْلِمُونَ شُرَكَاءُ فِي ثَلَاثٍ الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَإِ وَالنَّارِ» “The Muslims are partners in three things, waters, feeding pastures and fire (energy).” (Ahmad). In our Great Deen, energy, whether it is electricity, gas or petrol, is a public property, which is supervised by the state to ensure its entire benefit is for all the people, either through its direct use or from the revenues of its sales. However, over the last thirty years, in blind obedience to the IMF, successive regimes have privatized the energy sector. Through energy privatization, the IMF ensures that the state treasury is deprived of energy sector revenues so that the state becomes more dependent on loans and taxation, crippling the economy. Through privatization IMF hands the energy sector to foreign and local private ownership, increasing the prices of energy constantly to ensure they secure huge profits at our expense. As for Dr. Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, he is one of the key implementers of this destructive colonialist policy, in his tenure as Federal Minister for Privatization in the Musharraf-Aziz regime, then as Finance Minister of Pakistan under the Kayani-Zardari regime and now as the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance under the Bajwa-Imran regime. Is it not now clear that in the current system, whether faces change or not, the colonialist policies are continuously rammed down our throats? Thus, when the advocates of the Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of Prophethood insist that real change is only through the ruling by all that Allah (swt) has revealed, are they not truthful?

Media Office Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Pakistan