LAHORE: Pakistan Markazi Muslim League (PMML) Vice President Hafiz Talha Saeed has strongly criticised the government over the Rs13 increase in petrol prices, saying the latest hike has added to the financial pressure on households already struggling to make ends meet.
According to an official statement issued by the party, Hafiz Talha Saeed said the government had failed to provide relief to the public and should step down if it was unable to control inflation and ease the burden on consumers.
The PMML leader said frequent increases in petroleum prices had made life increasingly difficult for ordinary citizens. In the statement, he questioned the disparity between the fuel facilities available to government officials and the additional burden being placed on ordinary motorists, arguing that the latest increase was particularly difficult for low-income households to absorb.
A commuter in Lahore filling a 10-litre tank on a motorcycle, an increase of this size translates into an immediate and visible jump in weekly transport costs — a change felt long before it shows up in any official inflation reading.
The spokesperson stated in the press release that the government had compounded public hardship by repeatedly increasing petroleum prices, taxes and other charges. The administration, Hafiz Talha added, appeared to have no effective strategy to contain inflation or provide meaningful relief to the people.
“People cannot continue to bear the burden of inflation, taxes and government indifference,” he said, warning that the public would hold the government accountable through the electoral process.
The party’s criticism comes against the backdrop of a significantly altered fuel-pricing environment in Pakistan. Under a revised mechanism approved by the federal cabinet earlier this year, the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) now reviews petroleum prices on a daily basis rather than fortnightly, with rates linked to a rolling average of international petroleum prices.
Officials have defended the shift as a way of keeping domestic rates aligned with volatile global markets. Critics, including opposition parties, argue that it exposes consumers to sharper and more frequent revisions, making household budgeting harder for salaried workers, transporters and small traders.
Pakistan imports the bulk of its crude oil and refined products, which means disruptions in global supply chains and movements in the rupee-dollar parity feed directly into pump prices — and, from there, into freight charges, food transport and the wider cost of living.
Petroleum pricing has long been one of the most politically sensitive issues in Pakistan, precisely because its effects are so broad. Fuel costs sit inside almost every consumer price: the vegetable delivered to a Lahore market, the school van fare, the electricity generated by furnace oil. That is why fuel notifications routinely draw immediate reaction from across the political spectrum, and why religious and political parties have increasingly built protest campaigns around petroleum levies and taxation.
The PMML’s intervention places it alongside other parties that have publicly demanded reductions in the levy component of fuel pricing rather than adjustments driven solely by international benchmarks.
Hafiz Talha Saeed’s warning that voters would respond through the electoral process signals that the PMML intends to keep the cost-of-living question at the centre of its political messaging in the months ahead. Whether that translates into street mobilisation, coordinated opposition pressure in parliament, or a longer-term electoral strategy remains to be seen.
The immediate test for the government is not rhetorical but practical: whether it can offer any cushioning measure — through the levy, through targeted subsidies, or through transport-sector support — before the next revision lands on the forecourts.
The Lahore Times has sought a response from the relevant government authorities on the criticism raised by the PMML. No official comment was available at the time of publication. This report will be updated if a response is received.
This report is based on an official statement issued by the Pakistan Markazi Muslim League. All names, figures and quotations attributed to the party have been reproduced as provided in the release.
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