{"id":123663,"date":"2026-04-04T21:22:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=123663"},"modified":"2026-04-04T21:22:30","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T16:22:30","slug":"shahid-khaqan-urges-govt-to-deregulate-fuel-prices-promote-electric-vehicles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/123663\/","title":{"rendered":"Shahid Khaqan urges govt to deregulate fuel prices, promote electric vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Web Desk(National Times)-  Awaam Pakistan President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday called on the government to deregulate petroleum prices and promote electric vehicles (EVs) to absorb the economic impact of rising oil prices amid the US-Israel war on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since the February 28 strikes by the US and Israel on Iran triggered the war and pushed up global oil prices, fuel prices in Pakistan have reached record highs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1979341\/petrol-bomb-falls-on-pakistan-amid-war\">two<\/a>&nbsp;major&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1987901\/govt-hikes-petrol-price-to-rs458-per-litre-hsd-price-to-rs520-per-litre\">hikes<\/a>, petrol prices have risen from Rs266.17 to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988282\/petrol-price-reduces-to-rs378-per-litre-as-govt-cuts-levy-by-rs80\">Rs378<\/a>&nbsp;\u2014 after a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988282\/petrol-price-reduces-to-rs378-per-litre-as-govt-cuts-levy-by-rs80\">partial reduction<\/a>&nbsp;in a recent hike \u2014 while those of high-speed diesel have surged from Rs280.86 to Rs520.35.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, Abbasi said: \u201cI would like to say two things: deregulate the petroleum prices \u2014 the government is not capable of handling it \u2014 and pay attention to electric vehicles (EVs), especially on motorcycles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis amount keeps on increasing [\u2026] your system will function only if you incentivise EVs,\u201d he added, citing China as an example of having policies to promote EVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The former prime minister also raised questions about some&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988267\/provinces-take-the-lead-in-doling-out-fuel-subsidies-following-petrol-price-shock\">provinces\u2019 decisions<\/a>&nbsp;to make public transport free and distribute funds among certain groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He contended that \u201cnot even Rs20 billion out of the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988379\/how-rs200bn-subsidy-will-be-delivered\">Rs200bn<\/a>&nbsp;announced would reach\u201d the public due to the high levels of corruption prevalent in government departments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Awaam Pakistan chief claimed the government adopted \u201cfive different policies\u201d over the past month to determine oil prices, adding that it was better to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1847871\">deregulate<\/a>&nbsp;the prices and leave them dependent on the market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis is the path Pakistan should take. There is no other way,\u201d he said, recalling that the government had decided in 2018 that petroleum products in Pakistan would be deregulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou are the government. You can counter hoarding; it is your responsibility. It does not mean hiking the prices in an untimely manner,\u201d the former premier said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasised that there was a need to \u201cexpress these faults and understand the issues facing the country today\u201d, adding that it was the government\u2019s job to formulate policies while keeping in mind the lasting impacts of the ongoing war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Abbasi further pointed out that Pakistan had witnessed a \u201csolar revolution\u201d without the government\u2019s interference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe always try to find whose fault it is,\u201d Abbasi remarked, recalling that first,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1885176\">independent power producers<\/a>&nbsp;(IPPs) were blamed for the electricity crisis, then the policy of&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1972203\">net-metering<\/a>&nbsp;was identified as the issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe government changed the policy four times; they&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1897740\/solar-users-face-higher-costs-as-policy-revised\">ended<\/a>&nbsp;net-metering, then it was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1925577\">reintroduced<\/a>. Why can\u2019t you formulate a permanent policy? This is called elite capture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Thursday, the government announced an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1987962\/fuel-rates-explode-as-govt-withdraws-blanket-subsidy\">unprecedented increase<\/a>&nbsp;of 43 per cent and 55pc in the prices of petrol and HSD, respectively, to cushion the impact of global oil price shocks amid the Middle East conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The move was met with&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988236#:~:text=PTI%20plans%20all%2Dparties%20conference\">considerable backlash<\/a>&nbsp;from the opposition PTI, with the Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) warning of a nationwide protest movement if the hikes were not withdrawn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Friday night, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1988282\">announced<\/a>&nbsp;that the government was reducing the petrol levy by Rs80 per litre, after which the commodity would be available to end consumers for Rs378 per litre instead of Rs458 per litre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Web Desk(National Times)- Awaam Pakistan President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday called on the government to deregulate petroleum prices and promote electric vehicles (EVs) to absorb the economic impact of rising oil prices amid the US-Israel war on Iran. Since the February 28 strikes by the US and Israel on Iran triggered the war and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Shahid Khaqan urges govt to deregulate fuel prices, promote electric vehicles - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/123663\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Shahid Khaqan urges govt to deregulate fuel prices, promote electric vehicles - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Web Desk(National Times)- Awaam Pakistan President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Saturday called on the government to deregulate petroleum prices and promote electric vehicles (EVs) to absorb the economic impact of rising oil prices amid the US-Israel war on Iran. 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