Pakistan: Islamia University Bahawalpur employees protest for salaries

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 14 : Pakistan's Islamia University Bahawalpur's non-academic employees took to the streets, demanding their salaries of month March, Dawn reported.

The employees assembled at the old Abbasia Campus, from where they proceeded to the Bahawalpur Press Club and protested. The protesters demanded the varsity administration pay the March salaries at the earliest, along with the April month, ahead of the Eidul Fitr, in pursuance of a government directive.

A varsity spokesperson said the IUB was facing a financial crisis because of the non-issuance of funds to the tune of Rs 800 million for the last two years by the Higher Education Commission (HEC).

Meanwhile, the IUB syndicate, in its official release, stated that at the 81st meeting, presided over by Vice Chancellor Athar Mehboob, on Wednesday approved the projects of Cholistan and Seraiki area study centre, the centre of excellence in corporate governance, Chinese testing institute and business centre, a centre for performing arts and digital media production, the establishment of an institute of soil sciences and water resources and pilot project of the agro-economic zone, according to Dawn.

The cash-strapped country is struggling as inflation touches a new record. In March, the Consumer Price Index (CPI)-based inflation raced to 35.4 per cent in March, the highest annual rise in prices on record since 1965, driven mainly by skyrocketing costs of food, electricity, beverage, and transport, according to official data, reported Pak-based publication Business Recorder.

Pakistan's year-on-year inflation hit 35.37 per cent in March the highest in nearly five decades as the government scrambled to meet International Monetary Fund (IMF) conditions to unlock a desperately needed bailout.

The March inflation number was the highest annual rate since available data, i.e. July 1965, according to the research firm Arif Habib Ltd, and is expected to rise in the coming months, reported Dawn.

A spokesperson for the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics confirmed that "this is the highest ever inflation recorded in the data we have."

Monthly inflation measured by a basket of products and services called the CPI stayed above 20 per cent for eight months from June to January. It then hit 31.6 per cent in February and has now crossed 35 per cent. The reading was 12.7 per cent in March last year, reported Business Recorder.

On a month-on-month basis, it increased to 3.7 per cent in March 2023 as compared to an increase of 4.3 per cent in the previous month and an increase of 0.8 per cent in March 2022.

CPI inflation Urban increased to 33 per cent on a year-on-year basis in March 2023 as compared to an increase of 28.8 per cent in the previous month and 11.9 per cent in March 2022.