Imran Khan not concerned over people's issues, hiked prices of life-saving medicines: Pak opposition

Pakistan's opposition party Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz lambasted Prime Minister Imran Khan for implementing anti-people policies and said that the government has increased prices of life-saving medicines by an average of 50 per cent for the 12th time.

Spokesperson of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Marriyum Aurangzeb on Monday said the prime minister has no concern about inflation, joblessness, tariff hike of utilities and increased prices of medicines, The News International reported.

"Imran Khan increased the prices of life-saving medicines, and now he would say that he had waged jihad. He should be ashamed of his acts, she added. Imran Khan increased prices of medicines by an average of 50 per cent for the 12th time: new prices of new Pakistan for 12th time," she said in a statement cited by The News International on Tuesday.

She further said that during the past three years, Imran Khan increased prices of medicines by 500 per cent, but he felt no shame no guilt. She said Imran Khan gave NRO [deal] to the minister, who was caught red handed in drug theft and provided full protection to the thief, according to the Pakistani outlet.

On July 15, the government had increased the price of petrol by Rs 5.40 per litre and that of diesel by Rs 2.54 per litre. The prices of kerosene and LDO were also raised by Rs 1.39 and Rs 1.27, respectively as reported by The Express Tribune.

Apart from petrol, the price of food items including sugar, wheat flour has also been increased in Pakistan.

The World Bank (WB) has estimated that poverty in Pakistan has increased from 4.4 per cent to 5.4 per cent in 2020, as over two million people have fallen below the poverty line.

Using the lower-middle-income poverty rate, the World Bank estimated that the poverty ratio in Pakistan stood at 39.3 per cent in 2020-21 and is projected to remain at 39.2 per cent in 2021-22 and might come down to 37.9 per cent by 2022-23, reported The News International.

( With inputs from ANI )