Buner (Web Desk): Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan on Friday slammed the government over increase in petrol price after bowing down to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Addressing a public rally in Buner, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the former premier said that the incumbent government had turned a blind eye to the nation's suffering as rulers' properties, families and assets were all based abroad.
"The government has increased petrol prices by a whopping Rs60, which would ultimately prove "bone-breaking" for the salaried class," the PTI chief said.
Imran Khan said that his government had also faced pressure from the IMF to increase prices. "But we did not give in and managed finances from different resources in order to provide financial relief to the people".
He said the incumbent government would act according to the "orders" it received from abroad, reiterating that it had been brought into power through a foreign conspiracy.
The PTI chief also compared the three and a half years of his rule with the two months of the current government.
"During PTI's rule, the price of a 20 kg bag of flour increased by Rs326 but during the last two months, there was an increase of Rs422 in the price of flour. " Khan said.
"Similarly, Basmati Rice witnessed a hike of Rs55/kg compared to Rs40 during the PTI rule.
The price of Ghee increased by Rs200 over the past two months whereas the petrol price was increased by Rs60 per litre by the government", he added.
Imran Khan said that the incumbent government did not have an economic plan, they just came into power to "end their corruption and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) cases".
The PTI chief said that he had warned the 'neutrals' of the economic tailspin if the foreign conspiracy against his government succeeded. "It is good to be neutral but the country's sovereignty is equally important".
He claimed he had also asked former finance minister Shaukat Tarin to apprise the 'neutrals' of the impending economic downturn when the conspiracy was being hatched. "We can only defend the country when it is strong."
The former premier said that credit rating agency Moody's has once again downgraded Pakistan's economic outlook to negative, which had improved during our tenure.