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PESHAWAR, Dec 11: The Awami National Party organized hunger strike camps at all the district headquarters of the province and parts of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) on Thursday to lodge protest against the government’s failure to arrest increasing price hike across the country.
In the provincial capital, two camps were established, one each at the Chowk Yadgar and near Spin Jomait Chowk.
Party’s provincial leaders, including Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Haji Mohammed Adeel, Bashir Bilour and Hidayatullah Chamkani, visited the camps to express solidarity with those who observed token hunger strike.
Leaders and representatives of the city traders and businessmen organizations associated with the ANP and representatives of the party’s student wing, lawyers and teachers’ chapters of the Pukhtun nationalist force also visited the hunger strike camps to compliment their party’s stand against price-hike.
A call to the effect of setting up hunger strike camps at all the district headquarters on Thursday had been given by ANP’s provincial executive council during a meeting held on Dec 2.
The need to arrange the hunger strike camps had been felt on the part of ANP’s provincial leadership to protest, what it called, government’s failure to keep prices of essential commodities under control.
MMA-GOVT TALKS: Meanwhile, addressing party workers at a camp, ANP leaders said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had compromised on the Legal Framework Order issue and the on-going talks between the religious parties’ alliance and the government was just an attempt to hoodwink the nation.
The ANP leaders who addressed the party workers were provincial information secretary of the party Mian Iftikhar Hussain and former federal minister Azam Khan Hoti. The hunger-strike camp was set up at Shobra Chowk.
They said the MMA during its one-year rule had done nothing except lip-service. They had not done anything even for Islam, the ‘slogan’ which it used to get votes from the masses, they added.
A protest rally was taken out in the city by the activists of the Pukhtun Students Federation against the rampant increase in the prices of the essential commodities and unemployment. They later assembled at the hunger-strike camp.
The ANP leaders said present government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Q had provided no relief to the poor masses.
The government had increased 107 per cent the salaries of legislators, most of whom belonged to the well-off class, but did nothing for the low-ranked government employees.
The two leaders lamented that on all vacant government posts only retired army personnel were being appointed and the young educated lot was being ignored, which amounted to their economic murder.
HARIPUR: Like other parts of the province, the office-bearers of the Haripur chapter of the ANP went on hunger strike against what they called it lawlessness, price-hike and unemployment in the country, adds our Haripur correspondent.
Attended by district president Fiaz Hussain, Nadeem Subakhani, Shaukat Hussain Mashwani, Sardar Asif, Asad Zaman Khan, union councillor Nisar Shah and others, the protesters remained in the camp, which was set up near the main chowk, from 9am to 4pm in the evening.
They expressed dissatisfaction over the one-year performance of the federal as well as provincial governments.
