KARACHI, Oct 14: A large number of people on Thursday participated in a rally taken out to observe the ‘Day of Action’ in response to a call given by several civil society organisations in their campaign to force the government to get foreign debts written off in view of the heavy financial burden of rehabilitating millions of flood-hit people.The rally led by the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) started from the Sindh Assembly building and culminated at the Karachi Press Club. Chairman Mohammed Ali Shah and general-secretary Saeed Baloch of the PFF, Aly Ercelawn and Shujauddin Qureshi of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler), Abdul Hai of the Human Rights Commission o Pakistan (HRCP) and other civil society organisations’ leaders including Majeed Motani, Tahira Ali and Khuda Ganj Shad spoke at the rally.

They urged international financial institutions to write off all unpaid loans enabling Pakistan to spare the money for the massive population and infrastructure rehabilitation programme.

They criticised the institutions’ harsh policies towards Pakistan in a situation where the country was devastated by the worst-ever floods in its history and its economy was shattered.

The participants were carrying placards and banners and shouting slogans against the IMF, World Bank and other money lenders.

Their leaders said that the rally was the part of the global action against foreign debts.

They pleaded Pakistan’s case and said the floods had caused colossal losses to its economy and the country was faced with the major problem of rehabilitating a huge number of displaced people and revitalizing vast landscapes and agricultural infrastructure.

They noted that Pakistan had to pay $3 billion annually to the lenders under the head of debt servicing charges alone. Writing off the approximately $55 billion debt would greatly help Pakistan cope with the situation, they said.