December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: Parliamentary leader of the People’s Party Parliamentarians (PPP) in Senate Raza Rabbani has condemned the government for once again increasing the prices of petroleum products.

In a statement issued here on Tuesday, the PPP Senator accused the regime of following the dictates of international donors.

Mr Rabbani said poor economic policies of the government had made the lives of ordinary people miserable.

He said on the one hand oil prices were showing a declining trend in the world market, while on the other the government had been making frequent increases in its prices in the country.

He said recent increase in the prices of petroleum products would definitely upset the budget of a middle class family. He said frequent increases in the petrol prices had exposed the tall claims of the military regime that it had been taking steps for poverty reduction.

Similarly, PPP Senator Enver Baig had also condemned increase in the oil prices, saying that it had been announced at a time when newspapers were reporting incidents of suicides by people due to poverty.

Mr Baig said price hike, poverty and unemployment were the gifts of the present regime, which had failed on all fronts. He said due to poor foreign policy, the country’s borders had become unsafe.

Commenting on the statement of Federal Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad in which he criticized Benazir Bhutto for visiting India, he said the PPP had always advocated peaceful ties with India and also suggested several concrete measures.

He said it was the PPP’s commitment that led Ms Bhutto to welcome the ceasefire and the talks between New Delhi and Islamabad even though the military dictators were ruling the country. Ms Bhutto has the honour of making a breakthrough on Siachen in 1989 even as it had been lost under a military dictator, he added.

“The PPP is the architect of the policy on soft borders in the disputed territories enunciated in 1999 and greater travel links between the peoples of two countries.”