Increase in electricity tariff flayed

LAHORE:Tanzeem Islami (TI) ameer Shujauddin Shaikh in a statement on Wednesday said that the caretaker government is rubbing salt into the wounds of the poor by raising electricity tariff on IMF demands.

The foremost responsibility of any state is to provide the basic necessities of life to the people, but the ruling elite have done nothing for the poor. They did everything for their own luxuries by sucking the blood of the common man for the last 76 years.

The situation, he said, has now reached such a level that brutal hikes in electricity tariffs have left people with no choice but to commit suicides with their children.

He said the people are forced to sell household goods to pay electricity bills or to starve. He warned that due to the anti-people policies, there has been great anxiety and agitation that can push the country towards unrest and chaos.

He demanded a transparent, impartial and fair audit of all state contracts with the IPPs to ascertain if they are against the public interest and should be scrapped. He said that the common people have been suppressed under the burden of inflation while the elite enjoyed immense privileges.

He said that the economic and political oppression and exploitation of the people has exposed the ugly face of the current system. It is necessary to uproot the economic system based on capitalism, usury, corruption and the interests of landlords. And the fair economic system of Islam should be implemented in the country so that the basic problems of the people can be resolved and progress can be made towards the real goal of establishing a prosperous Pakistan.