By: Adeel Alvi
KARACHI: The Pakistan Peoples Party staged demonstrations on Friday in six districts of Karachi, in addition to other district headquarters in Sindh, against inflation, hikes in the prices of essential commodities, a worsening economic situation and “anti-people policies” of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s federal government.
The demonstrations were staged on the call of Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who called for a countrywide protest by his party against the economic policies of the federal government.
Central PPP leaders, including Senator Sherry Rehman, Senator Raza Rabbani, former Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Senator Saleem Mandviwala, Senator Taj Haider, Waqar Mehdi, Shehla Raza, Karachi Administrator Barrister Murtaza Wahab, addressed the demonstrations staged in different areas of the city.
The PPP leaders said the protest demonstrations had been staged all over the country as a public show of no confidence in the policies of the PTI government. They said common citizens were facing the skyrocketing inflation and unbearable hikes in the prices of essential products after the government had “secretly struck a deal” with the International Monetary Fund. They said the government should be sent packing as it had secretly signed a deal with the IMF without taking the parliament into confidence.
Addressing the protesters in Sukkur Syed Khursheed Shah said the concerned people had been protesting all over the country against the PTI’s economic policies and the IMF. He said the government had subjected the labourers in the country to severe economic hardships.The government should be shown the door to get rid of the “secret deal” that the PTI government had signed with the IMF and the imperialist America. He said the inflation and hikes in the prices of essential commodities had caused serious hardships to people belonging to middle income groups in the country.