KARACHI, March 6: Leaders of various religious and political parties have expressed concern over the alarming situation of inflation, unemployment and law and order, terming it a failure of government policies , and have called upon all patriotic forces to initiate a struggle over the situation.

They observed this at an all parties conference held on Saturday at the Jamaat-i-Islami's headquarters, Idara Noor-i-Haq, against poverty, inflation and unemployment.

Speaking on the occasion, the naib-amir of the JI, Prof Ghafoor Ahmed, said the government had failed in providing relief to people, and despite its claims, the law and order situation, inflation and unemployment were worsening in the country.

He said the government's claims of eliminating corruption in the upper level had also proved wrong, as both the Sindh Chief Minister, Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and sacked provincial minister Imtiaz Sheikh were levelling allegations of corruption against each other.

He stressed the political parties and citizens to struggle for getting rid of the situation, and expressed hope that the MMA's million march on March 20 would prove a "proof of the people's will".

The leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Prof N.D. Khan, said that inflation, unemployment and poverty were among the biggest problems of the country.

He said the inflation rate was expected to rise further from 4.4 to 8.8 per cent by June this year, terming the rise in inflation rate as a reason for the price hike of essential commodities. He said it would jolt the national economy.

Criticizing the rulers for falsely claiming economic prosperity, he asked them the grounds on which such claims were being made, when it was getting difficult for the common man to make both ends met.

"The entire nation should increase its pressure on the government to get their due rights," he said.

Speaking on the occasion, Saleem Zia of the Pakistan Muslim League-N pointed out that during the last one year the price of wheat had increased by 25 per cent, of flour by 26 per cent, beef by 30 per cent, onion by 77 per cent, and that of potato by 60 per cent.

While he maintained that terrorism, crimes, gang wars and dacoities were prevailing in the country.

The Amir JI Karachi, Dr Merajul Huda Siddiqui, observed that the country was facing the worst situation of its kind, saying the "genie of inflation had come out of the bottle, and poor people were instead being closed in the bottle".

He accused the rulers of increasing the remuneration of ministers while ignoring the common man, who was suffering from increased prices of petrol, sugar, electricity, gas, flour and other essential daily-use commodities.

The MMA's deputy parliamentary leader in Sindh Assembly, Nasrullah Shajjee, PPP's Haji Muzaffar Shajra, National Peoples Party's Syed Zia Abbas, President Punjabi Pakhtoon Ittehad Malik Ghulam Sarwar Awan, PPP's Habibuddin Junaidi, and Allama Hasan Turabi also spoke.

The conference was attended by a large number of activists of religious and political parties. - PPI