RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz (PML-N) on Sunday staged a protest demonstration against the PTI government for increasing electricity and gas tariffs.

More than 200 leaders and workers of the party gathered outside the Rawalpindi Press Club and marched towards Liaquat Bagh on Murree Road. They were led by PML-N divisional president Sardar Mumtaz Khan, district president Malik Abrar, city president Sardar Naseem Khan and former MNAs Malik Shakil Awan and Haji Pervaiz.

Women outnumbered men in the protest rally. Prominent among them were MNAs Tahira Aurangzeb and Seema Jilani.

The protesters were carrying placards inscribed with slogans against the government such as ‘Go Imran Go’, Tabdeeli Sarkar Na Manzoor’ and ‘Mehangai Khatam Karo’.

The protest lasted for an hour. At the end, the participants prayed for the early recovery of PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif.

Speaking on the occasion, the party leaders said the government’s wrong economic policies had made it difficult for the citizens to make ends meet.

They said the poor were becoming poorer and the rich richer while the middle class segment of society had almost diminished in just one and a half years. They said people found difficulty in managing their kitchen budgets and paying fee for education of their children.

Sardar Naseem said the PTI had snatched people’s mandate through rigging of the election and after coming to power disappointed the citizens due to its incompetence.

He said the PTI had its own agenda to malign the opposition and do nothing.

“Unscheduled loadshedding of electricity and gas continue in the city and the government has turned a blind eye to the public issue,” he said.

Shakil Awan said the PML-N had improved the gas pressure during its tenure and ended electricity crisis in the country but Imran Khan failed to maintain it.

“Vegetables have become dearer and the purchasing power of people has reduced. People could not buy tomatoes in last one month.”

He said residents of Punjab wanted to bring back Shehbaz Sharif as he had controlled the prices and improved administration in the province. At the moment, the biggest province of the country is being run by incompetent people, he added.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019