Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The Bar Council of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa condemned the hike in prices of all the essential commodities and staged a province-wide strike of lawyers on Thursday, reported to source.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Pakhtunkhwa’s Bar Council issued a joint statement where vice chairman of the council Zarbadshah Khan and its executive committee chairman Syed Mubashir Shah demanded that the government forthwith abolish the free provision of electricity, natural gas petrol and free air tickets provided to bureaucrats, judges, army officers, etc.

They stated that continuous price hikes especially of essential commodities had badly affected the general public and made their lives miserable. They stated that the legal fraternity would observe a complete boycott of all the courts on Thursday.

They directed all the district and tehsil bar associations to hold protest meetings in their respective barrooms. They also announced that the bar council would provide free legal assistance to people in cases in the consumer’s courts, according to source.

The cash-strapped nation’s economic situation is getting worse day by day. On Wednesday, the State Bank of Pakistan reported that the dollar appreciated by Pakistani Rupee (PKR) 1.40 to reach PKR 304.45 in the inter-bank.

The devaluation of the Pakistani rupee has caused inflation and also compelled the central bank to raise the interest rates, source reported.

The Central bank is raising the interest rates to mitigate the repercussions of uncontrolled depreciation of the local currency.

The market is not in control of anyone. The steep devaluation will continue and even cross the limit given by the International Monetary Fund, a senior banker said, adding that nobody knows what is next for the exchange rate, reported to source.