Political parties: Lahore coloured red
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) arranged a luncheon for porters at Railway Station
PPP’s Samina Ghurki at the rally. PHOTO: ABID NAWAZ/EXPRESS
LAHORE:
Several political parties expressed solidarity with labourers on Labour Day.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had arranged a rally from the City railway station to Charing Cross. PPP leaders Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira and Abdul Qadeer Shaheen led the rally. They opposed privatisation of public companies.
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) arranged a luncheon for porters at Railway Station. Speaking on the occasion, JI chief Sirajul Haq said the party would not put up with the government’s attempts to privatise state entities. He called for the protection of workers’ rights. The JI will end ‘VIP’ culture in the country, he said.
Haq later had lunch with the porters. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan held a meeting with office-bearers of the PTI Labour Wing. He said the government had not done enough for labourers. He accused the government of pursuing anti-worker policies.
The Awami Workers’ Party had staged a protest demonstration on The Mall. Speaking to the protesters, AWP Finance Secretary Shazia Khan slammed privatisation of public-sector enterprises and hiring of factory workers on contract basis.
“The AWP is against the privatisation of public enterprises such as the WAPDA, Pakistan Railways and the PIA. The privatisation is part of government’s broader agenda to deregulate the public sector in line with diktats of the International Monetary Fund.” She urged the government to initiate organisational reforms in these enterprises, and incorporate workers’ leadership on the board of governors.
She criticised the government’s labour policy saying that it had not been made in consultation with workers. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Labour Wing held a conference at Alhamra on The Mall. “The government is building labour colonies. It has set up schools for workers’ children and offering them scholarships,” Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir told the conference. “We believe in extending equal opportunities to labourers and their children.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2015.
Several political parties expressed solidarity with labourers on Labour Day.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) had arranged a rally from the City railway station to Charing Cross. PPP leaders Manzoor Ahmed Wattoo, Tanvir Ashraf Kaira and Abdul Qadeer Shaheen led the rally. They opposed privatisation of public companies.
Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) arranged a luncheon for porters at Railway Station. Speaking on the occasion, JI chief Sirajul Haq said the party would not put up with the government’s attempts to privatise state entities. He called for the protection of workers’ rights. The JI will end ‘VIP’ culture in the country, he said.
Haq later had lunch with the porters. Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Lahore president Abdul Aleem Khan held a meeting with office-bearers of the PTI Labour Wing. He said the government had not done enough for labourers. He accused the government of pursuing anti-worker policies.
The Awami Workers’ Party had staged a protest demonstration on The Mall. Speaking to the protesters, AWP Finance Secretary Shazia Khan slammed privatisation of public-sector enterprises and hiring of factory workers on contract basis.
“The AWP is against the privatisation of public enterprises such as the WAPDA, Pakistan Railways and the PIA. The privatisation is part of government’s broader agenda to deregulate the public sector in line with diktats of the International Monetary Fund.” She urged the government to initiate organisational reforms in these enterprises, and incorporate workers’ leadership on the board of governors.
She criticised the government’s labour policy saying that it had not been made in consultation with workers. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Labour Wing held a conference at Alhamra on The Mall. “The government is building labour colonies. It has set up schools for workers’ children and offering them scholarships,” Gilgit-Baltistan Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Barjees Tahir told the conference. “We believe in extending equal opportunities to labourers and their children.”
Published in The Express Tribune, May 2nd, 2015.