ISLAMABAD: Awami Workers Party (AWP) and the Progressive Students Federation (PrSF) held a rally at Aabpara Chowk against the high inflation rate and poor economic policies on Sunday.

The protesters criticised the way mainstream parties were cynically pushing unpopular IMF demands on to one another.

A large number working class people, slum residents, students, trade union activists and progressive political workers took part in the protest against the rising costs of living.

Speaking on the occasion, AWP’s Deputy General Secretary Aasim Sajjad Akhtar censured Finance Minister Miftah Ismail for pretending that the recent hikes in the petroleum prices were anything other than anti-poor measures taken by an elite that refuses to reduce its own consumption.

He challenged the government to cut the billions in subsidies that it gives to businesses through amnesty schemes or reduce the ever increasing exemptions and privileges of the military and bureaucracy.

AWP Rawalpindi Islamabad General Secretary Iqbal Jahan said the current skyrocketing prices had forced families to make brutal choices.

He said rising prices had made it incredibly difficult for slum residents to travel. Taxi and rickshaw drivers in particular were losing their livelihoods.

Professor Shahjehan of AWP questioned why mainstream parties apparently claiming to champion democracy refused to offer any alternative to the IMF-imposed cuts and conditions.

Jamil Iqbal from PrSF demanded an increase in the education budget while Shah Rukn-i-Alam said it was essential for ordinary people to understand that the elite consumption of imported goods directly made their lives worse.

Areej Hussain of Women Democratic Front said state policies had forced families to choose between meals and paying for their children’s education.

The demonstration also included a play by Laal Hartaal Group that dramatised the costs of inflation and the situation faced by those most impacted by it.

Published in Dawn, June 13th, 2022