The United Workers Front - a representative union of the KPT workers - stopped work at the port, bringing its operations to a halt. Dozens of trucks and trailers were stranded on Napier Mole Road, causing a traffic jam on the up and down tracks.
A KPT employee, identified as 30-year-old Shehzad, was injured at KPT Gate No.1 on Tuesday morning, when he had arrived for work and the PSF personnel stopped him at the security check. After a brief exchange of harsh words, one of the PSF personnel fired a shot towards the ground. The bullet struck a pebble that hit and injured the KPT employee.
The union's general secretary, Kamran Usmani said that the port was closed for 10 hours, from 8am till 4pm. The KPT PRO Shafiq Faridi, on the other hand, said that port operations resumed immediately after negotiations.
According to Usmani, the PSF personnel had scuffled with their worker for coming to work late. Faridi, however, disputed the claims, saying that the issue of contention was the employee's duplicate identification card.
"The PSF is supposed to look after the port's security and they should refrain from interfering in other matters," said Usmani. "They have no right to reprimand an employee for coming late. They can only check the identity of the workers at the gates, not their attendance."
The KPT management negotiated with the union to resolve the issue and the gates were finally opened at 4pm. Faridi said that a departmental inquiry has been initiated to investigate the incident. "We have increased the security at the port due to potential threats," he said. "The incident occurred over the issue of a duplicate identification card."
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27th, 2014.
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