• Federal cabinet members insist prudent planning averted a worse crisis • PM’s fuel relief scheme set for nationwide rollout from midnight • Local resources kept lights on amid Hormuz disruption, says Leghari • Rs100 relief per litre is all economy can bear right now: Musadik • Govt denies ‘smart lockdown’ rumours as fuel costs spiral ISLAMABAD: With Gulf energy transit routes effectively closed and fuel prices spiralling, members of the federal cabinet on Tuesday sounded the alarm regarding the energy situation in the country — both in terms of fuel supplies and power generation — while maintaining that things could have been much worse, if not for prudent planning on the government’s part. Giving a rundown of the way disruptions in the Hormuz and Bab El-Mandeb straits could have exacerbated prevailing shortages, Energy Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari and Climate Change Minister Musadik Malik highlighted how skyrocketing prices on the international oil market were testing the government’s ability to absorb such price shocks. Meanwhile, the National Steering Committee on Fuel Subsidy — chaired by Deputy PM Ishaq Dar — ordered that payments to fuel stations under the PM’s
