26 October 2004	Tuesday	11 Ramazan 1425

PESHAWAR, Oct 25: Workers of the Pakistan Muslim League on Monday staged a demonstration against the provincial government to protest against the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal's failure to check the spiralling of prices of commodities of daily use, unprecedented increase in unemployment and growing crime rate in the province.

Party's local leaders, including its provincial president Syed Agha Ali Shah, Haji Aulas Khan and Arbab Akbar Hayat, criticized the NWFP government and said that it had deviated from its own agenda to curb social injustices, adding that the MMA had done nothing for the welfare of people during the past two years.

The thinly attended rally urged the provincial government to control the prices or step down. The rally began from the Shuba Bazar and ended at the Suekarno Chowk in Khyber Bazaar.

Syed Agha Ali Shah said that the MMA had exploited the masses in the name of religion and it had forgotten its pre-election promises of enforcing Shariat in letter and spirit and resolve the people's problems.

He said that the prices of commodities had risen two-fold but the government was not taken any steps against profiteers and hoarders.

He said cattle smuggling to Afghanistan had escalated the meat prices.

He alleged that some MMA ministers were taking bribes for permits to send cattle to Afghanistan.

The PML-Q's provincial president said that they (leaguers) did not want to create problems for the MMA government otherwise they could "trample" it in three days. Accusing the MMA leaders of resorting to confrontational politics, he said that they had done nothing for the province or its people.-PPI