Pakistan: Awami party launches hunger strike against Imran Khan govt over price hike
Oct 08, 2021
Peshawar [Pakistan] October 9 : Lashing out at the Imran Khan government over inflation and price-hike, Pakistan's Awami National Party (ANP) has launched a hunger strike camp and said that the prime minister had not fulfilled the promises he had made with the nation before the general elections.
A senior leader of the Pakhtun nationalist party Ghulam Ahmad Bilour said that the prices of edible items, petroleum products and other daily-use commodities had almost doubled under the governance of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) as compared to the previously ruled government.
"On one hand, the commoners can't afford the prices of edible items and medicines while on the other the rulers claim that everything was fair and within the reach of the masses," he said, adding that Imran Khan had not fulfilled the promises he had committed with the nation before the general elections, The News International reported.
It further stated that apart from veteran politician Ghulam Ahmad Bilour, the other local leaders and workers of the Pakhtun nationalist party, as well as traders and businessmen, also participated in the strike.
The ANP leader said the country had witnessed the highest inflation and unprecedented price hike due to the flopped economic policies of the present government.
"This not an issue of a single political party but the whole nation should take to the streets against the price hike and unemployment," he said. He added that the prime minister had pledged with the nation that about 10 million jobs would be provided to the educated youths but instead of giving new jobs, the current rulers had deprived thousands of people of their employment.
Pakistan's joblessness has jumped from 5.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 6.9 per cent in 2018-19, according to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) published by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
The first year of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf in power saw an increase in unemployment in the case of both males and females, with the male unemployment rate rising from 5.1 per cent to 5.9 per cent and female unemployment rate jumping from 8.3 per cent to 10 per cent, reported Dawn.
