Muzaffarabad [PoJK], June 4 : Scores of traders in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) recently held a protest demanding the release of their arrested leaders and the filing of a case against PoJK Prime Minister Chaudhry Anwarul Haq over the deaths of four people during protests against inflation in May.
The protesters also demanded the government provide compensation to the families of the three protesters and a police official who were killed in the violence.
They lamented that there has been no implementation of subsidies on flour and electricity prices as assured by the Pakistan government, which had initially led them to call off their protests.
A protester said, "Our first demand is to release our arrested brothers and sisters. The second demand is that those who have been killed, a criminal case must be filed against the Prime Minister, Chief Secretary, and the IG of police, and they all must be arrested."
He added, "Tell me, have our flour and electricity prices been reduced? They have created divisions so that the public and the traders fight with each other, while they sit in their AC rooms and snatch our rights."
Locals say it is ironic that the region fulfils Pakistan's electricity needs, but instead, they have to suffer.
Another protester said, "We are demanding our right to 350 megawatts. When 2500 megawatts of electricity are produced here, then what is the problem in giving us 350 MW?"
Locals in PoJK say they are being forced to bear the brunt of Pakistan's economic crisis in the form of a hike in taxes and soaring inflation, and they see no relief in the near future.
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