(Publish from Houston Texas USA)
(By: Zafar Chishti)
Jhang: As part of the Don’t Gas the South campaign’s Global Day of Action Against Gas Expansion, workers, farmers, trade unionists and community leaders gathered outside the Jhang Press Club on Wednesday to denounce the expansion of fossil gas infrastructure in Pakistan and across the Global South. The demonstration was organised by Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee (PKRC) and Labour Qaumi Movement (LQM).
Participants were holding placards reading “Don’t Gas the South” and the demand for a just and equitable transition away from fossil fuels toward renewable energy. Speakers emphasised that Pakistan’s current path of gas expansion through proposed LNG terminals, pipelines and gas-fired power plants poses grave risks to rural and industrial working populations who already bear the heaviest burdens of economic and climate vulnerability. Baba Latif Ansari, the LQM chairman of the Pakistan Labour Qaumi Movement, said “The working class pays the highest price for every phase of fossil fuel expansion. From polluted air around industrial zones to rising energy prices and unsafe workplaces, it is the labouring poor who suffer while corporations profit.
Akbar Jutt of the Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee stated that farmers are witnessing firsthand how fossil fuels worsen droughts, heatwaves, and water scarcity.
Other speakers demanded that the government halt new gas projects, phase out fossil fuel dependency, and redirect public investment toward renewable energy, rural resilience programmes, and worker-focused transition strategies.
