LAHORE: The Barabri Party Pakistan organised a demonstration outside the press club here on Sunday to demand steps for arresting the rising unemployment graph.

Speaking to the participants, party chairman Jawad Ahmad said the country belongs to the middle and working class and youth which constitute 99 per cent of the population. He said the mafias, who are just one per cent, have been looting the country for the past 70 years.

“A system of loot and plunder of national resources has been established in the country which the BPP wants to change with the power of the 99pc. This is our legal, constitutional and political battle.”

Referring to Article 3 of the 1973 Constitution, he said the state is responsible for providing employment to all. But the successive governments did not implement it during the last 46 years.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan while in opposition built his politics on three slogans – corruption, rigging and Nawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif being the only thieves. But corruption is part and parcel of the capitalist system and now in the free market, its ratio has increased, he added.

He said real problems in the country were poverty and unemployment, while 30 million children didn’t attend school. There’s no clean drinking water and half of Pakistan is deprived of sewerage facility.

He claimed that the only party which would come into power with the support and through a movement of middle and working classes and youth, could solve these problems.

Vice Chairperson Dr Shahnaz Khan said the ruling elite consisted of mafias and corrupt leaders that needed to be rooted out for the good of the masses.

She said these people would transfer their wealth to offshore companies and banks and that nothing could change unless this problem was addressed.

Nouman Qureshi, Kashif Ali, Tariq Awan, as well as minority leader S. M. Babar also addressed the rally.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2019