PESHAWAR: Qaumi Watan Party and Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry have slammed federal government over POL price hike and demanded immediate reversal of the decision.

In their separate statements here on Sunday, the QWP provincial chairman, Sikandar Hayat Khan Sherpao, and SCCI president Junaid Altaf criticised the government for Rs55 per litre increase in the prices of petroleum products in one go and said this would dent the purchasing power of the people who were already grappling with record inflation.

“This is yet another crushing blow to the people who are already struggling with price-hike and unemployment,” the QWP leader said in a statement issued from Watan Kor here.

He said the unprecedented hike would trigger a fresh wave of inflation and push millions of families under the poverty line, adding that transportation costs, electricity tariffs, food prices etc would inevitably rise, placing an unbearable burden on the middle class, lower-income groups and daily wage earners.

“It is particularly unjustified because a significant portion of the current petroleum stock was purchased at a lower international price, yet the full burden of the increase has been passed on to the public,” he went on to add.

Similarly, SCCI chief also expressed serious concern over the sudden and unprecedented increase in petroleum product prices, terming the government’s decision a major blow to the national economy and the private sector.

The SCCI President strongly reacted to the government’s decision to increase petrol prices by Rs55 per litre, saying that the cost of doing business in Pakistan was already among the highest in the region and the latest hike would further paralyse industrial and production activities.

He said a new and serious economic crisis was emerging due to the ongoing war-like situation in the region, the effects of which had already begun to reach Pakistan.

Mr Altaf noted that the global economy was already under severe pressure and in a country like Pakistan where unemployment and inflation were already high the increase in petroleum prices would trigger a significant rise in the prices of food items and transport fares, pushing them beyond the reach of the common man.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2026