The government chose the May Day to increase, once again, the petroleum products' prices, adding more to the miseries of the poor, labour and middle class that are already burdened heavily with the economic pressures.
Increase in the POL prices will indeed fuel the cost of transportation, and, resultantly, increase the prices of various goods and commodities. Almost every second day there is an increase in the prices of essential daily-use, especially food items. The long list includes pulses, meat, vegetables, cooking oil, sugar, rice, wheat flour, bread, milk, and tea.
Shockingly, during the last three months or so, the prices of these essential commodities have registered a phenomenal increase of about cent per cent, totally unchecked by the government. The administrative measures to control the ever-increasing prices are either not in place or not being exercised, resulting in deliberate favouring the rich at the cost of the poor. The government has failed to contain the rising inflation, a fact that has only recently been admitted by the President and the Prime Minister.
On April 17, President Musharraf had urged the government to adopt immediate measures to control inflation aiming at overpowering the menace of price hike, in his own words. Two weeks have passed and nothing practically has been done so far by the government in this direction, rather another spate of price increase has been allowed on the Labour Day. This explicitly shows total indifference on the part of the Prime Minister and his cabinet to the impact of increasing prices of essential commodities on daily life of a common man.
One sadly recalls the comments of the spokesman of the All Pakistan Trade Unions Organisation on the appointment of Shaukat Aziz as the Prime Minister in August 2004 that they "see difficult days for the low and middle income wage-earners" (Business Recorder, August 29, 2004). How prophetic the statement was!