Agitation: Shallow promises drive workers to raise voice

A rally held against anti-poor economic policies.

Scores of leftist political workers, trade unionists, students among others protested on Murree Road on Friday to demand an overhaul of anti-poor economic policies, said a press release issued by the Workers Party Pakistan (WPP).

They demanded a reorientation of the state’s budgetary priorities towards the welfare needs of working people. The demonstration, organised by the WPP, was held in front of the Rawalpindi Press Club near Liaquat Bagh. Participants carried red flags, placards and banners and chanted vociferous slogans against the international financial institutions and the bloated security apparatus of the state.

Speaking on the occasion Aasim Sajjad of the WPP said that the anti-worker policies of the international financial institutions are being ruthlessly imposed upon working people in the shape of indirect taxes on basic amenities, slashing of education and health budgets, and withdrawal of subsidies.

He stated that even though these institutions and government functionaries, including the minister of finance, keep stressing the need to tax the rich, they have taken no meaningful step.

Meanwhile the unaccountable security apparatus continues to drain a huge chunk of public revenues in the name of the proverbial ‘national interest’, he said. Sajjad said that in such a situation the ruling classes and its patrons should not expect to maintain industrial peace. He claimed that the economic hardships of the people are so acute that sooner or later the country will erupt in social conflict if the state does not prioritise the working peoples’ needs.

Speaking on the occasion Alia Amirali of the National Students Federation said that along with the military establishment and its imperial patron, mainstream political parties are also responsible for exploitation of the working class.

The protestors warned the incumbent government that its slogans of providing “roti, kapra aur makan” to the working classes are becoming increasingly hollow and that simply holding elections every 4-5 years will not guarantee the establishment of a strong and sustainable democracy in Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 16^th, 2011.