JI demands release of Gwadar Rights Movement leader

Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Labour Day rally in Karachi demanded of the authorities to release Maulana Hidayatur Rehman who was imprisoned for leading Gwadar Rights Movement seeking due rights for fishermen.

A large number of labourers and social activists participated in the rally taken out in the city by the National Labour Federation to commemorate the World Labour Day on Monday. The rally was taken out from Coast Guard Chowrangi to Ibrahim Haidri -- a fishing folk neighbourhood.

JI Pakistan Ameer Sirajul Haq had appealed Labor activists across Pakistan to hold rallies for the release of Maulana Hidayatur Rehman on May I, the Labour Day.

Speaking on the occasion, Engr Naeemur Rehman paid a rich tribute to Maulana Hidayatur Rehman over his activism for the rights of fishermen and other communities in Gwadar and other parts of Balochistan. He said that Gwadar Rights Movement-- led by Maulana Hidayatur Rehman -- has become an icon of labour rights struggle in the region.

He demanded of the government to accept all demands of the Gwadar Rights Movement and release Maulana Hidayatur Rehman.

He said that the ruling PPP always chants the mantra of food, clothing and housing facilities for poor but on the ground it always adopts anti-poor policies.

The political party has been ruling over Sindh for more than one and half decades but it did nothing to ensure due rights for laborers, he said and demanded of the ruling party to play it's due role to recognize the dignity of labor, instead of always taking sides with feudalism and feudal lords.

JI leader Usama Razi, NLF Karachi President Khalid Khan, Fishermen leader Hussain, Rights Activist Shahida and others also addressed the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2023.