No more increase in gas, electricity tariffs: PM.

Byline: Ali Hazrat Bacha and Fauzee Khan Mohmand

GHALANAI/PESHAWAR -- Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said his government would no more increase gas and electricity rates as inflation had been contained and prices of essential commodities started coming down.

Addressing a public gathering after distributing Kafalat cards among deserving people under the anti-poverty Ehsaas programme, he said: 'I have decided not to increase the power tariff anymore because the people can no longer afford. I have decided to take all possible measures to bring down the power tariff in any way.'

The prime minister said the prices had surged in the past due to the contracts signed by the previous government agreeing to the purchase of power and gas at exorbitant prices. He said that due to the 15-year gas contract signed by the previous government, Pakistan was getting gas supply at higher rates in the world.

Imran says prices surged due to contracts signed by previous government

He said his government would talk to the power producers and urge them to bring down electricity prices and close down those plants which were producing costly power as no more burden could be passed on to the people and industries.

The prime minister asked the people not to vote for a party with corrupt leadership and said the countries were not poor because of lack of resources, but corrupt rulers. Without naming the Sharifs, he said the whole family had fled abroad.

Mr Khan said that when he had raised the Panama Papers issue he faced several cases and six in the Election Commission and produced 40-year-old contracts and documents in his defence. 'Did I flee to London? Neither did I flee nor complained of victimisation. When someone does not commit corruption, he needs not to flee,' he added.

Wishing durable peace and stability in war-ravaged Afghanistan, Prime Minster Khan expressed the hope that the [US-Taliban] peace accord will not only bring relief to the Afghan people but also to the dwellers of merged tribal districts in Pakistan. The agreement would benefit the people on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border, he added.

The prime minister said his government would make all-out efforts to enhance trade activities in tribal districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, adding that opening of border with Afghanistan would create job opportunities for the people on both sides of the border.

He said that over eight million Kashmiri brethren and sisters had been locked down in their houses by...