PESHAWAR: Awami National Party has asked the government to reduce prices of petroleum products following decrease in rates of oil in the international market to provide relief to people of the country.

ANP provincial president Aimal Wali Khan in a statement here on Wednesday said that prices of petroleum products had reduced significantly in the international market so the government should pass on its benefits to people.

He said that people faced financial losses owing to hike in prices of petroleum products and other commodities. “Now it is time to provide relief to them on emergency basis,” he said. He added that people of the country were facing the worst kind of economic issues owing to price hike and unemployment.

Aimal Wali said that people should not be made scapegoat owing to foreign agreements. He said that rulers should take austerity measures to alleviate poverty. He said that people would heave a sigh of relief if oil prices were reduced ahead of Eidul Azha.

Meanwhile, ANP provincial general secretary Sardar Hussain Babak in a separate statement urged the provincial government to take up the issues of net hydel profit and power loadshedding with the federal government.

He said that Punjab government had announced a relief package for power consumers but the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were yet to get such a relief.

Mr Babak, who is also parliamentary leader of ANP in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, urged the provincial government to ask the centre to convene a meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) to discuss the core issues as the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were facing serious problems owing to power loadshedding and low voltage.

He said that ANP would present a resolution in the provincial assembly against power outages with the hope that all lawmakers would support it. He said that parliamentary leaders of all the political parties should play their constitutional role to raise voice for the rights of the province.

Published in Dawn, July 7th, 2022