Petrol price hike sparks NA protests as JI announces nationwide action

Opposition members staged a protest in the National Assembly on Friday against the government’s sharp rise in oil prices, with lawmakers shouting slogans as they surrounded the speaker’s podium in a show of defiance.

The government on Thursday further hiked petrol prices by Rs137 per liter to a record high of Rs458.4 after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to impose more charges on consumers.

The new price of Rs 458.4 per liter of petrol is also far higher than the increase in the international market when Prime Minister Shehbaz decided to increase oil tax to a record high of Rs 160.61 per liter on petrol.

It was the second major hike in fuel prices in less than a month after PM Shehbaz hiked diesel and petrol prices by Rs55 per liter last month. The cumulative increase in the price of petrol within a month is 63% and that of high-speed diesel 75%.

During the protest, some opposition members tore copies of the assembly’s agenda in frustration. They insisted on addressing the House on the oil price hike, but Deputy Speaker Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah told them that he would only allow points of order after Question Time.

The protest continued despite the warning and the floor was temporarily given to opposition member Junaid Akbar Khan. Criticizing the government, Khan said: “This incompetent and thieving government was imposed on Pakistan. Last night this imposed government threw a petrol bomb on the people.”

Khan also spoke against a government institution, prompting the vice-chairman to react sternly: “If you continue to speak against the institutions like this, I will not allow the session to continue.”

Other opposition members, including JUI’s Noor Alam Khan, urged the speaker to allow parliamentarians to debate the skyrocketing prices of petroleum products, highlighting growing public frustration over rising fuel and electricity costs.

Following the protest, the National Assembly session was adjourned until Monday.

Read: Oil tanker contractors threaten to stop tankers after sharp fuel price increase

The government raised prices after failing to convince the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to allow it to provide more subsidies. The IMF capped the maximum subsidies for fuel at Rs 152 billion.

But the most shocking action by the government was to increase the oil tax rate to Rs161 per liter on petrol to raise additional funds for cross-subsidizing diesel prices. The government outsourced the core function of the state to protect its citizens to the petrol consumers.

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman said “the brutal increase in the price of petrol and diesel is unacceptable” and announced a nationwide protest movement from Friday in a post on X.

JI’s Munim Zafar during a press conference in Karachi on Friday demanded that the government withdraw the petrol price hike and reiterated the start of the protest movement across Karachi with a demonstration planned outside the Millennium Mall at

Meanwhile, former finance minister Miftah Ismail also raised eyebrows over the hike in government tax, stating that the government last night raised petrol prices by Rs79 per liter but at the same time decided to “raise taxes on petrol” by Rs55 for a total increase of Rs134 per litre. “And it keeps saying it doesn’t want to burden the people and wants to carry the burden itself,” he noted.

Former Sindh Governor Muhammad Zubair also questioned why Pakistan has “the most expensive petrol in the region.” According to him, petrol costs Rs286 in India, Rs280 in Bangladesh, Rs322 in Nepal and Rs406 in Sri Lanka compared to Pakistan’s Rs459.

“Only one reason: We are the most incompetent and corrupt compared to all these countries,” the former governor claimed.

He further noted that the government’s austerity measures have been minor, amounting only to “minor temporary 2-month austerity measures”.

Another former finance minister Asad Umar compared prices in India and Pakistan and said Pakistan’s petrol prices are currently 48% higher and diesel prices 92% higher than neighboring India.

He argued that the government’s “reluctance to tax the rich and powerful” has left ordinary citizens to bear the burden, with “most of the taxes being collected from the working middle class” instead.

Former Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Finance Minister Taimur Saleem Khan Jhagra also took to X, saying, “A government that wants relief has not just increased the price of petrol, it has increased the oil tax from 105 to 161 rupees per litre. It is the highest ever tax on petrol in the history of Pakistan.”

Also, Pakistan Peoples Party’s Natasha Dultana said petrol prices rose overnight with “no warning, just another blow” to the people. “How long are citizens expected to bear this burden?”

Barrister Saad Rasool predicted that the recent price hike “will push millions of hardworking people below the poverty line.”

Former PTI minister Fawad Chaudhry opined that the people of the country had now become “Naseem Shah, so they have imposed a fine!”