Members of NSF presenting a skit at the rally. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS
To mark May Day, different trade union organizations and left wing political parties took out rallies in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, demanding better wages and improved working conditions.
Speaking at a rally in Islamabad, activists of the Awami Workers Party (AWP) condemned the excesses of capitalism and priorities of the ruling class, who, according to them, have left them in the cesspool of inequity.
The activists of the AWP and the National Students Federation gathered at Aabpara Chowk to mark the day.
They chanted slogans against the ruling class and the exploitation of workers.
Speaking on the occasion, AWP Secretary-General, Aasim Sajjad Akhtar, said that with each passing year, the plight of workers worsens, yet there was no political will on the part of the ruling class to improve this state of affairs.
Akhtar said that exclusion of issues of workers from the manifestoes of the political parties indicated the waning influence of labour movements on them.
According to a press release issued by the AWP, May Day is an opportunity to demonstrate the organized power of the working class.
Fatima Ahsan, teacher from Quaid-e-Azam University, said those who suffer the most in Pakistan belonged to a class which was barely acknowledged.
Haneef Parveen from SACH NGO said that labour class has been working on low wages whereas “we only see increases in salaries of government officials”.
Later, a rally was taken out from Aabpara Chawk which culminated at Argentina Park. AWP and National Students Federation (NSF) activists performed a play specially prepared for the occasion.
This was followed by renditions of revolutionary songs by a young and upcoming singer, Ammar Rashid.
Alia Amirali, general secretary of the NSF, said that the historic alliance of workers, peasants and students must be revived if there was to be structural change in contemporary Pakistan.
She decried the rhetoric of mainstream parties that claim to represent the youth of Pakistan, saying that these parties have no workable programme to provide employment.
Meanwhile, in Rawalpindi, the Pakistan Trade Union Confederation and trade union organizations took out rallies where a large number of workers and activists showed up.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2013.
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