Countrywide protests were held on Sunday against the raise in POL, gas and electricity prices on an appeal given by Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan. Protest rallies and meetings were held in major cities, including Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar, Hyderabad, Khanewal and Bahawalpur. Senior JI leaders addressed the rallies and condemned the raise in the POL and gas prices and electricity charges which had crushed the general public. They deplored that while rulers led luxurious lives, the masses had been unable to make ends meet. JI chief Syed Munawar Hasan told a massive public meeting in Khanewal that the so-called opposition did not raise voice against the price hike that was carried out on IMF and World Bank dictation. In Lahore, a rally was held outside the Lahore Press Club. JI Lahore chief Amirul Azeem said the present government had been constantly raising prices of POL, gas and electricity due to which the poor were committing suicides.
He said the common man was unable to understand why the gas price was being raised despite it being a local produce.
The rally at Peshawar was addressed by JI provincial chief Prof Ibrahim Khan, who said if the rulers did not control the rising prices, the hands of the poor would strangle them.
