RAWALPINDI, March 23: The People’s Rights Movement (PRM) on Saturday condemned the arrests of political activists in Lahore ahead of a planned public rally on Sunday.
A meeting of the PRM component organizations was held here to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country and strategies on future actions.
The meeting was critical of the fact that political parties and individuals, who had been co-opted by the government, were allowed to hold rallies and meetings at will, while those considered a threat to the government’s agenda were harassed.
It said people’s rights were being trampled upon, while the government continued to undertake huge development projects such as the Greater Thal Canal and Lyari Expressway project which would displace thousands of people, destroy livelihoods, and further damage the natural environment.
According to a press release issued by the Movement, ordinary people have no say in the decision-making process, and continue to bear the burden of policies that are decided by individuals who have no knowledge of local problems.
In particular the economic policies of this government continue to be anti-poor, it said.
The recent levying of GST on medicines is an example of such policies. These policies are pushed on the country’s poor by the international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Asian Development Bank (ADB), and World Trade Organization (WTO).
The ongoing debacle of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) for Pakistan, being prepared by the Finance Division, highlights how little citizen input goes into policy-making.
The PRSP is supposed to be an inclusive process, but, till now the general public does not even know that this paper is being prepared.
The PRM demanded of the government to restore political and civil liberties so that ordinary people could struggle for their rights without fear of harassment.
The current political environment was repressive as all right-based struggles were being quashed under draconian anti-terrorist legislation.
The participants of the meeting urged political parties to engage in people’s struggles and finally make politics in the country people-centred. If the government is truly committed to improving the lives of the Pakistanis, it should drastically reduce defence expenditures and redirect public spending towards the social sectors.