Pakistan: Opposition parties to launch 'anti-inflation campaign' against Imran Khan govt
Oct 18, 2021
Islamabad [Pakistan], October 18 : Opposition parties in Pakistan have decided to launch an anti-inflation campaign against the Imran Khan-led government over rising prices in the country, local media reported.
Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Sunday decided that the opposition would launch a campaign against the "unprecedented" rise in inflation, The Express Tribune reported.
The two leaders, while speaking on the phone, observed that they needed to leave their homes to "save the nation from inflation, unemployment and the ongoing economic catastrophe across the country".
Shehbaz, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, and Fazl, the head of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), decided that the protest movement would include demonstrations, rallies, and marches across the country, the Pakistani publication reported.
"The PTI government is weakening the relationship between the State and its citizens by constantly spreading frustration and confusion as a result of its incompetence," Shehbaz said.
"The situation is very dangerous and the serious implications of the growing anti-people and insensitive policies of the rulers are extremely disturbing," he said, adding that the government should explain why it had to increase the prices of electricity, gas, petrol, flour, and sugar.
Earlier, Shahbaz Sharif also termed the increase as "utterly shameful" and said that the latest hike, along with the petrol bomb, will push people to the brink of starvation. He added that Imran Khan has no right to remain in office and demanded his resignation.
Meanwhile, Fazl, accompanied by PML-N Senior Vice President Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai, said inflation bombs were being dropped every day and the common man had been forced to end their lives, The Express Tribune reported.
"We appeal to the people to come out of their homes to fight this storm of inflation," he said.
He further stated that people have been overwhelmed by the burden of the price hike of petroleum products. "The price of petrol has gone up by over Rs 30 since June. The government has become the watchdog of the IMF instead of protecting the interests of the country and the nation."
