Oil Prices Raised As Per PTI Govt-IMF Deal: Maryam.

ISLAMABAD -- Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League: Nawaz (PML-N) Maryam Nawaz Thursday said that the Shahbaz-led government had to increase petroleum prices only because of the contract that the former government signed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The PML-N leader said this while talking to media persons outside the Islamabad High Court after attending the proceedings of her appeal against her conviction in the Avenfiled reference here.

She said that traditionally, the former governments tell people about their achievements when they leave but referring to Sheikh Rashid's recent statement, she said that former ministers are telling the people that Imran Khan laid landmines for the incumbent government.

She said that the Shahbaz-led government has not increased a single penny in the petrol price or tax at its own will and it was because of the contract that the former government had signed with the IMF.

Maryam said that the former government did not know how to run the economy but when they ruined it and ran out of money, they risked the entire country and its economy to take loans from the IMF. She added that this forced the incumbent government to take such decisions because it is bound by the agreements Imran Khan government signed.

The PML-N leader said that it was written in the IMF contract signed in 2019 that the subsidy on petrol will be abolished or the petroleum development levy on petrol will be increased. She said that Pakistan will default if the incumbent government does not follow the contract.

She said that when Imran Khan realized that his government will not survive any longer, he damaged Pakistan so much that it will take months to recover if not a year. She also said that Imran Khan's government reduced petrol prices knowing that Pakistan cannot bear the burden.

Reacting to PTI Chairman Imran Khan's recent statement about holding a 'powerful show', the PML-N Vice President said that the state would stop any such call with full force and added that calls for anarchy, sedition, and violence against the state will be strongly dealt with by the government.

In response to the criticism of the PTI leaders against Director General ISPR Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar's statement that there was no evidence found of a 'foreign conspiracy', the PML-N leader said that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director general's statement was not political, but was based on facts.

Referring to Nawaz Sharif's comments...