Chairman Pakistan Threek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan on Thursday expressed serious concern over the government's attempt to undermine the autonomous working of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) by curtailing its powers. In a statement, the PTI Chief exposed the government's designs to thwart all constitutional restraints, which allow institutions to function in an accountable manner and prevent a government from undermining democratic norms through accumulation of authoritarian powers within the Executive.

Khan asserted that, "The government was seeking limitless powers and completely arbitrary authority to do as it pleased, with no checks and balances - neither constitutional nor institutional." Khan reminded that, "Earlier the government had sought to undermine NEPRA's powers by trying to bring it under the control of the water and Power Ministry but the Court checkmated that move."

"Now it has used the Council of Common Interests (CCI) to undermine NEPRA's powers," he added. "As always, it is the poor power consumer who will suffer as now the government can fleece the consumers as much as it wants," he said. Khan regretted that, "The nation would once again be paying the price for the rulers' corruption and for the incompetence and inefficiencies of the system of power generation and distribution."

Khan committed that, "PTI will not accept the systematic destruction of institutions by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government and would evolve a strategy to ensure that the PMLN does not succeed in its plans to undermine all institutional checks and balances that are an integral part of any functioning democracy."

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