ISLAMABAD: Progressive political workers, intellectuals, students, trade unionists and working class residents of the twin cities on Friday staged a protest demonstration and brought out a rally in Aabpara against the unprecedented food inflation, unemployment and general economic hardship.

The demonstration and rally was organised by the Awami Workers Party (AWP) and other member organisations of the progressive alliance, Left Democratic Front (LDF). The participants were carrying red flags, banners and placards inscribed with slogans against anti-people policies of the government and international monetary fund and the ruling class.

Speaking on the occasion, AWP deputy general secretary Aasim Sajjad said the mainstream media continues to focus on audio leaks and other cynical tussles within the corridors of power while the everyday miseries of working people were becoming increasingly unbearable.

“In the last week alone at the peak of the winter season, natural gas prices have been hiked by 75pc. Meanwhile, wheat flour is inaccessible to large segments of the population and even the prices of tomatoes and onions is fluctuating wildly.”

Participants say miseries of working people becoming increasingly unbearable

All of this is explained both by the incompetence of the ruling class and the backbreaking conditionalities imposed by the IMF and bilateral donors who ostensibly keep the economy afloat whilst also making it a safe haven for unaccountable investors and hell for working people and natural eco-systems, he said.

Kamran from the Mazdoor Kissan Party said while the PTI government exacerbated Pakistan’s economic woes through unprecedented borrowing and amnesties to the rich, the Shehbaz Sharif-led government has adopted similar policies in the name of keeping the foreign exchange rate stable and saving the country from default.

He said if the government is truly committed to the welfare of the working masses it should levy taxes on real estate and other highly profitable sectors, announcing land reform, reducing non-productive expenditures, including the defence budget, as well as initiating employment-generation industrialisation, particularly in rural areas.

Progressive Students Federation leader Fatima Shahzad said the government claims to have raised almost $10 billion for flood relief but millions of people are still living under the open sky in Sindh, Balochistan and other areas.

Meanwhile, protesters in Gwadar and Skardu were pleading to be given basic amenities.

In Islamabad, she said, people living in katchi abadis faced eviction by the CDA and police every day in the name of ‘development’, with a settlement in E-11 the latest to be bulldozed so as to make way for the construction of 11th Avenue.

Published in Dawn, January 14th, 2023