PAKISTAN: World Bank gets notice to quit

BY DAVID BASS

LAHORE — A 250-strong demonstration at the Lahore Press Club has supported a boycott by social and political organisations here of World Bank consultations for a new "Country Assistance Strategy".

Representatives of the Joint Action Committee, which unites 21 groups active in the city, presented a statement to the World Bank meeting before leaving to join the demonstration.

The statement protested World Bank plans for further privatisation and economic deregulation in Pakistan and continuing support for large-scale projects such as dams.

It was also critical of the Washington, DC-based institution's unwillingness to carry out any review of the failure of such development schemes in the past.

The statement also said the burden of debt was so high in Pakistan now that economic development was impossible without its relief or cancellation.

The demonstration proceeded under police observation but without the arrests expected under the country's military regime.

From GLW issue 450