Petroleum product prices to remain unchanged

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb said Thursday Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has rejected the summary of increase in prices of petroleum products.

She contended that the people cannot be punished for the worst incompetence and blatant mistakes of the previous government. In a statement issued here, she noted that strict conditions for raising the prices of petroleum products with the IMF were set by Imran Khan's previous government in exchange for a loan. “Every effort is being made not to put further burden on the people who are tired and exhausted by inflation.

Separately, she rejected reports of the arrest of an anchorperson and said speculation about anchorperson's arrest is part of propaganda campaign and insisted that the petitioners, who filed a plea on the basis of suspicion, should have provided evidence.

“This is not Imran Khan's fascist government in which journalists used to be targeted. Instead, our target is inflation, elimination of unemployment and recovery and development of the economy. The democratic government has come to serve the people, not to take revenge. PTI's unconstitutional, anti-media and anti-people mob has become a fake news network,” she charged.

Those who broke ribs of journalists, shut channels, banned columns and put TV shows off air, she emphasised, should look in the mirror. “The unemployed coterie has nothing to say about serving the people. The violators of the Constitution are surviving on the politics of reaction. How can you survive politically if you tell lies,” she said.

Meanwhile, Marriyum Aurangzeb said the first foreign visit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will open a new chapter of exemplary friendship and is a reiteration of brotherly and historic ties between the two nations.

The minister tweeted that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is leaving for Saudi Arabia today on the special invitation of ‘Mohsin-e-Pakistan’ and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohamed bin Salman.

“The visit from April 28 to 30 is the first foreign visit of Shehbaz Sharif since taking over as the prime minister. Congratulations on the resumption of the journey of stability, development and prosperity. Long live Saudi Arabia-Pakistan friendship,” she said.