LOWER DIR: Hundreds of activists of Jamaat-i-Islami and other parties came on the roads after Friday prayers in parts of Lower Dir, Battagram and Mohmand against the government for its failure to control inflation and unemployment in the country.

In Dir, JI’s local organisations held separate protest rallies in Chakdara, Kumbar Maidan, Munda and Samarbagh against the rising inflation, hike in prices of petroleum products and the government’s plan to bring the region under tax net.

The Maidan rally was addressed by former MPA Saeed Gul, JI tehsil chief Fazal Wahab and others. They asked the government to avoid any step to bring the people of Malakand division under the tax net. They criticised the government and its ministers for defending the record inflation in the country.

In Munda, the JI and JUI-F staged a joint protest rally against the government, which was addressed by JI former tehsil nazim Humayun Khan, JUI-F’s Khurshid Khan and others. They said that because of the cruel policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government the people were finding it hard to feed their families.

In Battagram, different political parties staged a joint protest against inflation in the country after the Friday prayers.

The protest was held at the Kutcheri Chowk where the participants blocked the main KKH to traffic. Atta Mohammad Deshani, provincial president ASWJ, Saeed Ahmed Malkal, trade union president Abdul Ghaffar and local leaders and workers of JI and QWP attended the demonstration.

The speakers said on the occasion that the PTI rulers had failed in running the government business. They said that prices of edible items, medicines and oil had reach the record level.

They criticised Prime Minister Imran Khan for doing nothing for the welfare of poor people.

In Mohmand, a demonstration was organised against inflation under the auspices of PPP in Ghalani on Friday.

The party’s local leaders said on the occasion that the rising prices of flour, sugar, ghee and other food items had hit hard the poor people in the country. They said that the country was on the verge of bankruptcy due to wrong policies of the PTI government.

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2021