'Should I starve my kids to death?' Pakistan woman's video on price rise goes viral

With people in Pakistan facing hardships from alarming price rise, a video of a Karachi woman breaking down over how to make her ends meet is now going viral on social media.

The woman identified as Rabia, is seen in a video tweeted by journalist Hamid Mir as saying that after paying her rent, her inflated electricity bills - in a place where power cuts are more the norm - and her taxes, she has hardly any money left to feed her children

Rabia says in the video that she pays Rs 20,000 in house rent, her monthly electricity bill has shot up to more than 15,000 for 556 units, and that prices of medicine for her epileptic child have shot up many fold over the last four months.


"Tell me what should I pay? Pay my rent or pay my electricity bill or pay for my groceries or pay my tax so that your pockets are full?" she asks.

She also holds up her grocery bill, which does not even have essentials like atta, lentils, sugar and ghee, not to mention items of luxury.

"Should I kill my children by starvation," the mother of two sobs as she says this on camera.

Rabia hits out at Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz, saying the situation in the country shows they "do not have any fear of Almighty Allah."

Pakistan Finance Minister Miftah Ismail reacted to her video, ANI reported, saying that the government did not increase electricity tariff in June nor impose new taxes on medicines.

PM Shehbaz Sharif has been fighting a severe economic crisis since he took over in April this year, with Pakistan's current account deficit surging to $17.4 billion with reduced cash reserves and high inflation.