KARACHI, March 2: Speakers at an All Parties Conference on Friday condemning the recent 10 per cent increase in electricity charges termed it an anti-people move of the government and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

The All Parties Conference (APC) organised by the Awami Himayat Tehrik (AHT) at a local hotel was presided over by Dr Asad Thanvi of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam while Pervaiz Muslim of the Jamaat-i-Islami, Khwaja Ashraf of Minhajul Quran, Maulvi Iqbal Haider of the AHT, Dr Abdul Muttalib, Abid Advocate, Sohail Hameed, Imran Shehzad and others also spoke.

They said that if the government refused to withdraw the decision then the superior judiciary would be moved through public interest litigation to get the price enhancement abolished.

The speakers said that increase in power charges would affect all sections of the society as the domestic consumers, who were already suffering due to the ever increasing inflation, would be paying more, the industry would face tougher competition and the prices of products would also increase and masses would be the ultimate sufferers.

They said that the exporters would suffer more as with the higher prices their products would face stiff competition in the international markets affecting the foreign exchange earnings of the country.