Pakistan Opposition protests against inflation, calls for overthrowing Imran Khan government
Oct 30, 2021
Islamabad [Pakistan], October 30 : Amid rising inflation in Pakistan, opposition parties have staged a protest in two cities of the country urging people to join forces to "overthrow" the Imran Khan government, reported local media.
Workers of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on the call of the party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, staged protests in Islamabad and Rawalpindi against the rise in poverty, unemployment and inflation, reported Dawn.
The party workers raised slogans against the Imran Khan government.
PPP General Secretary Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari hit out at the energy minister for his comment of Pakistan being a cheap country in the region and said that he is making fun of the poor people.
In 38 months, the miseries of the people have multiplied and they can hardly make ends meet," Dawn quoted Bukhari as saying.
The party president further questioned the competence of the government and said that the number of days remaining of this government is "numbered".
"It is time to say goodbye to these rulers. Bilawal is protesting against inflation as he is the heir of Benazir Bhutto who worked hard for the poor," Dawn quoted Bukhari as saying.
Earlier, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan has snatched away the freedoms of the country's people including "the sanctity of the vote to freedom of speech as well as that of the media."
"Imran Khan has taken away the freedoms that have been bestowed upon the people under the Constitution. Imran tried to snatch it all", Tribune quoted Bilawal as saying.
Notably, food prices that began to surge in 2018 continue to shoot higher even in 2021 in Pakistan.
The rise in the price of per kilo vegetable ghee has been 27 per cent consecutively for the last three years. The price of cooking oil has shot up to 23per cent, Sugar to 22per cent and pulse to 21 per cent since October 2018. The rise in the flour price each year since 2018 has been 15per cent, according to Dawn.
The newspaper reported that the food inflation of Pakistan has remained in the double digits for the last two years barring a couple of months.