LAHORE: Activists from Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee and Labour Education foundation staged a protest outside Lahore Press Club on Friday demanding “deep, wide and urgent debt cancellation” for Pakistan.
The demonstration was organized amid the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in Washington. The meetings bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, parliamentarians, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness.
Farooq Tariq, General Secretary Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee said IMF conditionalities imposed on Pakistan have been strictly enforced without considering the massive loss of life, livelihoods and public funds from the devastating floods of 2022. Over 4 million people still residing in roadside camps and millions of children are still without access to safe drinking water.
“The IMF and the WB persist in pushing loans as the answer to multiple crises but the solutions they promote have only contributed to worsening the debt problem. We need debt cancellation now so that our government does not have to make a choice between servicing Pakistan’s debts or fighting poverty, hunger and climate change,” he pointed out.
The protesters also called for the cancellation of debts related to fossil fuel projects. Zaighum Abbas, country programme manager of Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development said, “The IMF and WB’s lending for coal, oil, and gas extraction and infrastructure projects across the Global South is contributing to increasing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating climate change. These projects in turn have caused forced displacement, loss of livelihoods, and destruction of ecosystems, exacerbating social inequalities and perpetuating cycles of poverty and vulnerability in the Global South.”
Similar protests were held across Asia in different countries, protesting the IMF-WB policies that drive debt issues in global south, claimed a statement issued by the Kissan Rabita Committee.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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