KARACHI, Jan 21: Participants of a demonstration organised by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal at Empress Market here on Sunday condemned the government for uncontrolled inflation, and demanded that the prices of essential commodities be brought down to a level affordable to the common man.

Addressing the participants, leaders of MMA and other parties, including Syed Munawwar Hassan, Nafees Siddiqui, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, Siddique Rathor, Allama Nazir Abbas Taqvi, Shabbir Abu Talib, Rafique Khan, Basharat Mirza, Hameedullah Khan and Nihal Hashmi, warned that if the prices were not brought down, they would hold the next demonstration in front of the Governor’s House and another in the federal capital.

They described the recent reduction of in the petrol prices as a cruel joke with the masses, and told the government to adopt a realistic approach.

In this context, they pointed out that there had been a 33 per cent reduction in the fuel prices in the international markets.

They also condemned the government for pursuing its failed economic policies owing to which, they claimed, a large number of people had been rendered jobless in the name of downsizing, rightsizing, golden handshake, etc. The leaders strongly criticised the government for selling off its national assets on the directives of the international financial institutions at throwaway prices to its handpicked and favourite parties.

They deplored the Sindh government for failing to improve the poor law and order in the province, particularly Karachi, and noted that rate of street crimes had assumed an alarming level but there was no end to the trend in sight.

They lamented that people were losing their cash, vehicles, cellphones and other valuables every day to the armed criminals on the streets but no culprit had so far been arrested. This was strengthening the claim of official patronage, they added.

The leaders said that while the Sindh government would never miss an occasion to claim that it had improved law and order in the province, a report presented by the federal government to the Senate said that the largest number of incidents involving human rights violations and killing of women had been reported in Sindh.

They criticised the government for following the dictates of the United States without keeping in mind the national interests.

They said that while the people of Islamic countries were opposing US designs and its imperialistic agenda, the rulers of Islamic countries were following the dictates from Washington. They said that the US wanted to take control of all resources of Islamic countries, but rulers of these states were playing in the hands of America like puppets.

They deplored the government for giving up its stands and reversing its policies on Afghanistan and Kashmir just to please the imperialistic forces.

The demonstrators also staged a sit-in while a heavy contingent of police was present to meet any eventuality.

The police tried to disrupt the programme at about 2pm by taking away the public address system, but when the number of protesters swelled, the police preferred not to intervene further.