ANP activists stage protest against inflation, loadshedding

MARDAN: Activists of the Awami National Party (ANP), Mardan chapter staged a protest rally against the high inflation rate, load-shedding of gas and electricity and shutdown of CNG stations on Sunday.

The rally was led by ANP district president Imran Manduri, Mayor Mardan Himayatullah Mayar and other office bearers. The protest rally started from Shagu Bridge and passed through various bazaars. At Pakistan Chowk, the rally converted into a protest meeting. A large numbers of party workers participated in the rally.

The participants of the rally chanted slogans against the provincial government and provincial Food Minister Mohammad Atif Khan. Addressing the rally, the speakers criticised the PTI government and said that due to the failure of the PTI government policies, inflation had increased, due to which people had been forced to commit suicide and poison children.

They said that after the 18th Amendment, it is the responsibility of the provincial government to control the inflation, but the incompetent provincial government had created problems for people. The speakers said the provincial food minister had earned billions of rupees by creating an artificial shortage of flour.

They said the shortage of flour in the hometown of the food minister was shameful. They alleged that in 2013, Atif Khan did not have money to submit election fees, but said that today he is owner of hundreds of acres of land and billions of rupees.

The speakers said the PTI government broke the records of corruption. They added that from 1947 to 2013, the province owed Rs87 billion, but today the province had a debt of Rs1,000 billion.

They said that people of the province were asking where the money had been spent. They said that Imran Khan and Shehbaz Sharif were giving electricity and gas to Punjab, but Punjab is not giving flour to KP.

They said that they ANP activists were followers of non-violence philosophy, but if Punjab does not change its attitude and does not give flour, Baacha Khan’s followers would stop electricity and gas supply to Punjab. Later, the protesters dispersed peacefully.