LAHORE, Oct 25: The Lahore organization of the PPP on Saturday set up a protest camp in front of the PDP office to express resentment against ‘unjustified detention’ of Mr Asif Ali Zardari for the last seven years.

Deteriorating law and order situation, skyrocketing prices and growing unemployment were also protested at.

PPP’s Punjab President Qasim Zia said the present government was powerless and must step down without delay.

Referring to announcements being made by the chief minister about development projects for various areas, he said such schemes would be confined to papers.

Qasim, who is also opposition leader in the Punjab Assembly, said the rulers were unaware of the requirements of the people and thus could not be expected to set priorities.

Khalid Kharal said there was no rule of law in the province and the recent punishment awarded to a police constable for enforcing the law was sufficient to vindicate the assertion. He said it was regrettable that instead of rewarding the constable, the rulers decided to side with the mighty.

Altaf Qureshi highlighted the impact of martial laws on the society. He said even crops were affected by the military rule, a reference to the prevailing cotton crisis in the country.

Munir Ahmad Khan came up with statistics to establish how the crime graph was going up.

He said prices had slipped out of the control of the government because of which it was not possible for the poor to get items of daily use.

Mian Misbahur Rehman and Sajida Mir also spoke to the participants.