HYDERABAD: Activists of the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) staged a demonstration outside the local press club in protest against price hike and what they termed anti-poor policies of the government dictated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Leading the protest, Iqbal, Azhar, Nawaz Khaskheli and others said the Pakistani rulers would have to face the consequences of price hike, which was the result of the IMF-inspired policies. The ruling elite of the country had pushed people to price hike ruthlessly, they added.

Warning that the Pakistani rulers would have to pay a price for it, they said people would lose patience and working class would take to the streets to demolish that tyrannical capitalist system for their own survival.

They said the Pakistani elite got loans from the IMF to meet their unneœssary expenses and filled their coffers. They stated that the masses had been made scapegoats by rising prices of petroleum products and increasing taxes etc.

Prices of commodities had gone beyond the reach of the common man, they said, adding that it had become impossible for people to buy fuel.

They demanded that minimum wages of workers should be fixed at Rs40,000 per month and old age allowance of Rs20,000 be given to them. Calling for recovering taxes from generals, judges and civil bureaucracy, they said their expenses should be cut along with other non-development expenditures.

They said that subsidy should be given to people on edibles whose prices should be capped at the 2018`s prices. They also opposed privatisation policy.