PoK: Civil disobedience movement launched amid soaring inflation

Kotli [PoK], August 23 (ANI): The residents of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have launched a civil disobedience movement in Kotli amid soaring inflation, ARY News reported.

The protests started in PoK over the rising inflation and heavy electricity taxes. According to reports, protestors burned their electricity bills publicly at Abshaar Chowk. They said that people are forced to come on the roads.

The short-term inflation continues to rise with a year-on-year increase of 27.57 per cent for the week ending on Aug 17, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) official data showed on Friday.

On a week-on-week basis, the short-term inflation rose 0.78 per cent and has shown no signs of slowing down, causing concern for economists and consumers alike.

According to official data, the Combined Index was at 275.57 compared to 273.43 on August 10, 2023, while the index was recorded at 216.02 a year ago, on August 18, 2022, reported ARY News.

Out of 51 items, the average price of 32 items increased, 7 items decreased, and 12 items remained stable.

During the week under review, the items whose prices increased the most over the same week a year ago were: Chillies Powder (7.58 per cent), Rice Irri-6/9 (7.48 per cent), Garlic (5.06 per cent), Sugar (4.02 per cent), Gur (3.23 per cent), Rice Basmati Broken (3.06 per cent), Chicken (2.83 per cent) and Bananas (2.72 per cent), non-food items, Diesel (7.29 per cent) and Petrol (6.40 per cent).

On the other hand, a decrease was observed in the prices of Tomatoes (13.60 per cent), Cooking Oil 5 litre (1.65 per cent), Vegetable Ghee 2.5 kg (0.85 per cent), Vegetable Ghee 1 kg (0.43 per cent), Firewood (0.42 per cent), Mustard Oil (0.23 per cent) and Wheat Flour (0.19 per cent), as per ARY News.