LAHORE: A plea has been filed in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the increase in pricing of petroleum products in Pakistan.

“Between September 7 and 11, petrol had become costlier by Rs29.95 per liter and diesel by Rs25.27 per liter during the same five days,” the plea stated.

The petitioner said the price of petroleum was being increased daily which has pushed the price of fuel to more than Rs400 per liter.

The petition said the continual hikes in fuel prices are impacting transit, agriculture and the prices of critical commodities. It said paid workers and low-income families are bearing the brunt of the higher fuel expenses.

The petitioner further compared the pricing of diesel in Pakistan with other nations and said that diesel was Rs140 per liter more costly than Bangladesh, Rs122 than India, Rs106 more than Afghanistan and about Rs77 more than Sri Lanka.

The petitioner has asked the high court to call data about petroleum levy, taxes and margins of oil marketing companies and dealers.

The petition also asked for details of the method for fixing prices of petroleum products in the country.

 Pakistan fought back from the brink of an innings defeat to set England a target of 130 runs in the third and final Test at Edgbaston on Friday.

The visitors were bowled out for 449 in their second innings, having resumed the day at 52-2 and faced the prospect of a series whitewash after being dismissed for just 133 in their first innings. A remarkable lower-order assault led by Test debutant Razzaullah and Mohammad Abbas turned the contest around, giving Pakistan a slim chance of forcing a result.

Pakistan had needed 320 runs simply to make England bat again after the hosts posted 453 in their first innings. They eventually surpassed that mark comfortably, with Shan Masood, Babar Azam and Awais also making valuable contributions before the late-order fightback transformed the game.

Awais and Shan resumed the third day’s play and produced a determined 125-run stand for the third wicket. Both batters reached half-centuries before Dan Lawrence finally broke the partnership by dismissing Awais for 59.

Shan then continued to anchor the innings and came agonisingly close to a century. The Pakistan captain made 95 from 148 deliveries, hitting 12 boundaries before Gus Atkinson ended his innings.

Babar subsequently combined with Saud Shakeel for a 64-run fifth-wicket partnership and brought up his 34th Test century, ending a long wait for a hundred in the format. His stay at the crease ended on 76 from 103 balls, with 11 fours and a six, after Josh Tongue had him caught behind.

Saud made 35 before falling to Atkinson, while Ghazi Ghauri and Mohammad Imran departed cheaply as Pakistan slipped to 318-8.

With Pakistan eight wickets down and still needing runs to avoid an innings defeat, Razzaullah and Abbas launched an extraordinary counterattack.

The debutant took the initiative, attacking England’s bowlers with a succession of boundaries. Razzaullah struck nine fours and four sixes during a sensational 81 from only 63 balls, giving Pakistan’s innings fresh momentum when defeat appeared almost inevitable.

Abbas provided crucial support at the other end, producing a career-best 42 from 67 deliveries. The pair added 121 runs for the ninth wicket, taking Pakistan from 318-8 to 439-9 and ensuring England would have to bat again.

Abbas was eventually dismissed with Pakistan on 439, but Razzaullah remained aggressive until the end. He became the final wicket to fall when he was stumped off Dan Lawrence, leaving Pakistan all out for 449 after 96.4 overs.

The 129-run lead means England now require 130 runs to win the Test and complete a series clean sweep. Pakistan, meanwhile, must defend the modest target to prevent England from claiming victory in the final match of the series.

Russia struck two Kyiv petrol stations with jet-powered drones early on Friday, killing two people in an escalation of operations that President Volodymyr Zelenskiy warned were becoming “increasingly terrorist in nature”.

Three additional persons died in Russian strikes in Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions and in the northeastern Kharkiv area, the governors of the territories said.

Ukraine also hit Russia with drones, killing two people overnight in the Tula region and one on Friday in the Kursk region, local officials claimed.

As fighting on the front line has mostly stagnated more than 4-1/2 years into the war in Ukraine, Russia and Ukraine have increasingly targeted logistics and other economic targets in recent weeks in an effort to weaken the other’s war effort.

For two weeks, Russia has been launching virtually continual strikes with faster jet-powered drones that have killed a number of Kyiv people and disturbed daily life in Ukraine’s capital. The strikes were stopped during a weekend trip to Kyiv by U.S. peace negotiators Steve ⁠Witkoff and Jared Kushner, then resumed.“Gradually, Russia’s escalation with jet-powered ‘shaheds’ is becoming more and more terrorist in nature,” Zelenskiy stated on X.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, sparking a war in which both sides say they are not targeting civilians.

ATTACKS ON FUEL STATIONS

The two people at one of the two petrol stations assaulted in Kyiv were killed by the double-tap hit, officials added.

Friday’s strikes came after what looked to be the first attack on a Kyiv petrol station the day before. Russia has struck some 300 petrol stations in the past few months, mostly in or near Ukraine’s frontline districts.There is no military goal to such strikes. “Terror of the civilian population,” claimed Bohdan Kukura, CEO of Ukrainian oil major Ukrnafta.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, claimed another 12 people had been hurt in Kyiv, including a 12-year-old boy. Eight individuals were injured overnight in an attack on a residential complex in Kyiv.

Russia struck a building used by Ukraine’s main mobile operator Kyivstar (KYIV.O) in Kyiv and there were strikes in eight other Ukrainian districts, Zelenskiy added. Kyivstar’s network continued to work, the company stated.

The regional governor reported one woman was slain in the Kyiv region near the capital.

One person was murdered and 19 injured in attacks across the Dnipropetrovsk area, governor Oleksandr Hanzha said. All except one of the injured was in the city of Dnipro.

In southeastern Ukraine, one person was murdered in a Russian attack against the city of Zaporizhzhia. A drone strike killed one person in the city of Kharkiv, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov stated.

The Belgorod region of Russia, a common target for Ukrainian forces, reported a Ukrainian drone attack killed one person. And the Moscow-backed leader of Russian-controlled sections of the eastern Donetsk province reported two workers for a local gas business were murdered in a drone strike.

RISING STRIKE NUMBER

Ukraine has struck at Russia’s main online merchants and oil refineries, frequently deep inside Russia, as well as energy and fuel logistics in parts of its own territory controlled by Russian soldiers.

“Ukrainian forces struck an enterprise and an oil industry facility in the Saratov and Volgograd regions,” Zelenskiy stated. He also reported strikes on unspecified locations elsewhere in the country and on the Black Sea.

Two people were killed and three injured in Ukrainian drone assaults overnight, Tula area governor Dmitry Milyayev said. The governor reported a 37-year-old male was killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Kursk region.

Russian e-commerce company Ozon says a fire at its logistics hub in the central city of Saratov was started by a drone.

More than two dozen warehouses owned by Ozon and another online store, Wildberries, have been damaged in recent attacks that Ukraine says are part of a campaign targeting the economic infrastructure backing Russia’s conflict.

Ukraine’s military said it struck an oil facility in Saratov.

Local authorities reported two persons were injured in a missile strike on two residential structures and an industrial complex in Volgograd, south of Saratov on the Volga River, but did not name the industrial facility.