Saturday 20 / April / 2024
Islamabad: The women's wing of Imran Khan's political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) took out a rally and staged a demonstration against rising inflation and the wheat flour crisis, reported Dawn.
Several women showed up to take part in the demonstration held at Uppal Chowk, carrying signs and banners, and shouting anti-government and pro-party leadership chants. PTI has announced that it will begin nationwide demonstrations against price hikes the next week and claimed that the country's inflation rate has caused the economy to weaken and made people's lives challenging.
Addressing a protest rally, former provincial minister Malik Taimour Masood Akbar said that the country's inflation rate had hit 31 per cent.
He criticised the government for the unprecedented rise in the cost of living in the nation, noting that the price of Roti jumped from Rs 12 to Rs 20, while the price of grilled chicken increased from Rs 300 to Rs 750 per kilogramme, as per a Dawn report.
He added that the government was failing to pass on the effects of the drop in oil and food prices on the global market. "The Rs 8 increase in power will plunge the entire country into shock while expecting inflation to be 30 per cent - highest in 75 years," he said. The PTI leader went on to say that the cost of power during their administration was between Rs16 and Rs18 per unit, but that it has spiked to Rs36.
He also said that the federal government took the country to the threshold of destruction and an unprecedented price hike was imposed on the people, adding that it was the duty of the government to provide the people with essential items at rational prices.
Political parties leading the government in the centre and provinces are busy in political tug-of-war and least concerned about people's miseries. Senior vice president of PTI's women's wing Kalsoom Chaudhry said that historic high inflation in Pakistan is taking a very heavy toll on the poor and even the lower and middle class. Chaudhry said that the PDM government was not concerned about inflation, poverty and poor economy, but with the popularity of Imran Khan, reported Dawn.
According to Shazia Azhar, analysts criticised the government's bad policies, which contributed to the skyrocketing food and energy prices, and as a result, inflation in Pakistan reached a record high of 35.4 per cent in March. She claimed that due to inflation, it is now hard for women to pay for the needs of the home.
She said, "Women are made to stand in long queues to buy wheat flour at subsidised rates," adding that rulers had failed to deliver.
She added that the current economic collapse, inflation, and law-and-order crisis in the nation were all the fault of the PML-N and PDM leaders. She claimed that the nation's record unemployment and inflation forced individuals to commit suicide. Dawn reported that she questioned whether the provincial administration has to clarify how the underprivileged would pay Rs155 for 1 kilogram of flour.
