PPP announces nationwide protest against 'Elite-Centric' FY26 budget

June 12, 2025 (MLN): The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has announced a nationwide protest campaign against what it describes as an “Elite-Centric” budget for FY2025- 26.

“The rich have made a budget for the rich. There is nothing in it for the common man,” said PPP Labour Wing chief Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed while addressing a news conference.

“Every segment of the elite has received financial relief, while the burden continues to fall on the underprivileged”, he added.

Prior to the budget's release, the PPP Labour Wing had demanded a 50% increase in the salaries of government employees. However, the budget only proposed a 10% salary hike, as per the press release issued.

“We are not asking for a 500% raise, just a reasonable 50% to help workers survive,” Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed noted.

Ahmed further demanded an increase in the minimum wage to Rs50,000 per month.

“We seek a 100% increase in the EOBI pension, currently hovering around Rs10,000, better healthcare facilities for industrial workers, raising the death grant from Rs800,000 to Rs1 million, and the marriage grant from Rs400,000 to Rs500,000,” the PPP leader said.

The PPP leader added that the party had started contacting trade unions across the country to mobilize support for the protest.

He stated that demonstrations would be held in all provinces before the passage of the federal budget in the National Assembly.

“The government’s economic policy is anti-people. We will resist it on all fronts. The responsibility of any political instability will rest with the rulers,” he said.

Referring to the increase in salaries of top government functionaries, including members of the cabinet, parliamentarians, and the heads of constitutional bodies, Ahmed termed the move a “financial obscenity”.

“The speaker and chairman have received a massive hike in salaries, while the laborers are told that their raise must align with the inflation rate,” he remarked. “Is this not economic injustice?”

He further criticized the reported proposal to end pensions for government employees after 10 years of retirement, calling it a “cruel and inhuman decision”.

“The World Bank is warning about rising poverty, our farmers are in distress, yet this government continues to serve only the elite,” Ahmad added.