Religious leaders reject mini-budget

LAHORE: Religious parties have rejected the fresh raise in fuel, gas, power rates under IMF conditions, demanding it was time drastic cuts in perks, privileges and protocols of civil/military bureaucracy and ruling elite be made to meet the austerity measures; otherwise, they would take to the streets.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Hafiz Saad Hussain Rizvi in a press conference said entire loans of IMF in the history were devoured by the ruling elite but paid back by the poor. Now the poor have been squeezed to such an extent that they are unable to even eat one square meal a day.

Saad gave 72 hours’ ultimatum to the government to withdraw the new fuel prices, cut away the fuel, power, perks, privileges, protocol to the rulers and bureaucracy; otherwise, TLP would jam the entire country roads. If the conditions are such worse, then why not millions of litres fuel for thousands of cars of ruling elite and bureaucracy, and billions of rupees on protocol be stopped.

JUP supreme council president Qari Zawwar Bahadur and other leaders, including Naseer Noorani and Rasheed Rizvi warned the rulers to stop selling the poor as fodder to the IMF slavery, and instead abandon their own perks, protocol in shape of free petrol, electricity, gas, medical and travel facilities at the cost of poor masses. Sunni Tehreek Pakistan central leader Shadab Raza Naqshbandi, General Secretary Sardar Tahir Dogar and others demanded immediate withdrawal of the mini-budget, threatening that otherwise they would launch countrywide protest movement against the government. They threatened to give countrywide call for protests against inflation, which would make the government lose its existence.