LAHORE, Aug 3: The Lahore High Court Bar Association urged all the political and religious parties on Saturday to join hand to protect the country and the Constitution.

In a statement, LHCBA president Chaudhry Muzzammil Khan, vice-president Khawar Ikram Bhatti, secretary Shahid Mahmood Bhatti and finance secretary Tanvir Mahmood Chaudhry said the government was out to crush the people under the burden of rising prices and utility charges. The latest increase in electricity rates and petrol prices, they said, ‘has buried the people alive.’

They alleged that the country’s economic policies were being made at the behest of the world financial institutions without any regard to plight of the common man. They had resulted in industrial stagnation and were now threatening the farm sector. Popular leaders and parties were being kept out of the electoral process and there was little hope for a change for the better even after elections. The only way out, they said, was to launch a struggle to oust the present regime.