Members of the trader community took out a protest rally on Tuesday against the increase in petroleum prices, load-shedding and inflation.
The rally started from the Saudi Pak Tower and culminated in front of the Parliament House. The protesters, hailing from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, condemned the government’s policies and asked it to withdraw the increase in the prices of POL products. They said failure to do so would compel them to take extreme steps. They stated that they were facing more than 10 hours of electricity load-shedding every day. Jamil Ahmad, a businessman, said: “The prices of all food items have gone up by 20 percent and transport fares have also increased due to the increase in the petrol and CNG prices, but the government is completely unconcerned.” Faisal Sheikh, a resident of sector I/10, said nobody was listening to the problems of the common man. “We don’t have faith in any political party in the country,” he said. He added that the residents supported the traders’ call to protest.