April 4, 2003	Friday	Safar 1, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, April 3: The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) has asked the government to let the benefit of low oil prices in the international market trickle down to the public by bringing down the prices in the country to the level of 1999.

Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, PML-N parliamentary leader and former minister for petroleum in a statement on Wednesday said that in 1999 when the petroleum prices in the international market were fluctuating between $24 and $28 per barrel, during the Nawaz Sharif government, “even then we kept the domestic prices at an affordable level in view of the economic hardships of the common citizens.”

He said that if the present government was sincere in its claims regarding the amelioration of the common man’s life, it should bring the prices of petrol, diesel and kerosene oil at Rs26, Rs10, and Rs6, respectively, at the 1999 levels.

To support his standpoint, he said since the petroleum prices in the world market had drastically come down from $37 per barrel to $26, the government should also let the benefit of this reduction reach the consumers who were paying three times more than the original prices of petroleum products.

The recent reduction in oil prices would be short-lived as the government would again increase the prices in the fortnightly review, he cautioned.

Criticizing the government for hyping up its economic successes during the last three years, the PML leader said that by levying new taxes and repeatedly increasing oil, gas and electricity prices, the government had put an unbearable economic burden on an already groaning public.