Press Release
IMF's Budget 2013-14 for Pakistan Kayani-Sharif Regime Lays the Basis for Back-Breaking Increases in Electricity Bills

The Kayani-Sharif policies will further increase the price of electricity, which is already hard to afford, despite the fact that it is only available for less than half the day, with people calling the electricity bill "second rent." The Finance Minister of the Kayani-Sharif regime said that the government will clear the power sector's circular debt by August 12, which it is doing by taking more interest based loans from local banks and foreign institutions. This is in addition to the regimes increasing taxation upon electricity, as well as increasing the privatization of the power sector.  However, these three measures will raise the prices of electricity far beyond their current prices. Moreover, these three measures are mandated by the IMF and contradict Islam's Shariah rulings:

Firstly, persistent borrowing by the government to pay off the circular debt will further increase rises in the prices of electricity as well as everything else. The Kayani-Sharif regime has resorted to heavy borrowing from the Central Bank, which is called "monetizing" the budget deficit. Because this method always leads to the growth of monetary base and of money supply and ultimately inflation, it is often referred to as just "printing money." The Rupee will lose its value even more, it was once 60 to the dollar, then at the time of the last Budget speech it fell to 80 to the dollar, then in at the time of this year's budget speech it fell again to 100 to the dollar and in time, if this Kufr system remains in place for next year's budget speech, the Rupee is expected to fall to 120 before the dollar. The ever weakening Rupee makes everything more expensive, not only electricity. Not only does Islam forbid borrowing on interest, it also ensures that the currency is based on silver and gold, so that it does not lose its value, thus causing inflation.

Secondly, increasing taxation upon electricity through tariffs will further increase the rapidly soaring electricity bills. Again this contradicts Islam, as it has Shariah sources of revenue from state and public property and forbids taxation. In accordance with Islam there are no taxes that are taken from the people as the Prophet (saw) used to manage the affairs of the people and it has not been proven that he (saw) enforced taxes upon the people and there are no reports whatsoever to indicate that he ever did. And when he (saw) learnt that those on the borders of the State took taxes upon the goods that entered the lands, he forbade that.

Thirdly, privatization of electricity will further increase prices, as there will now be even more private parties trying to make profit from sales in electricity. In fact, it is this privatization that caused the circular debt in the first place as the government did not pay private parties their dues so they began to produce less. Islam has mandated that power is a public property, which means its benefit is for the Ummah and it is forbidden to privatize electricity, depriving the people of their right.

Hizb ut Tahrir warns the Muslims of Pakistan that without Islam and its Khilafah "Caliphate" state the situation of the Muslims will worsen beyond what they can imagine. And of greater importance is that implementing the Shariah rules as a state is an obligation upon the Muslims, for which Allah (swt) will hold them to account. It is high time that every Muslim, young, old, man or woman, commits before Allah (swt) to join their days and nights in order that the Deen of Allah (swt) is implemented through a Khilafah "Caliphate" state.

The Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah of Pakistan