Privatisation: ‘FIR won’t stop us from protesting’

Union condemns WAPDA for registering a public nuisance case against them.

LAHORE: All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Central Labour Union (APWHECLU) leaders have condemned an FIR lodged against them by the Water and Power Development Authority management for allegedly causing nuisance to passers by during a demonstration they held earlier in the week at Charing Cross on the Mall to protest proposed privatisation of power distribution companies.

Talking to The Express Tribune, APWHECLU joint additional general secretary Osama Tariq, who is amongst the 18 people named in the FIR registered with Civil Lines police, said it was meant to harass activists and discourage them from proceeding with their campaign against privatisation of power distribution companies (DISCOs). “The police have not taken any action against us yet. They will use it to stop us from holding demonstrations in future,” he said.

APWHECLU general secretary Khurshid Ahmed said the management could not stop the protest campaign through such tactics. “We intend to hold our next protest demonstration in front of the Lahore Electric Supply Company (LESCO) head office in another day,” he said. “Our protest is not for personal gain. We are just asking the government to call us for a dialogue and address our concerns regarding the privatisation proposal,” he said. He said workers had a stake in the way DISCOs were to be managed and therefore they should be consulted before any decision was taken about it.

Labour Education Foundation Director Khalid Mehmood said right to assemble had been guaranteed under the constitution. He regretted that the WAPDA management had lodged an FIR against its workers for holding a protest demonstration. The FIR states that a large number of people driving past the Charing Cross were inconvenienced during the day-long protest arranged by the union last Wednesday.

It has been registered under Sections 188 (defying an order promulgated by a public servant), 290 and 291(punishments for causing public nuisance) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The PPC prescribes a prison term for up to a month, Rs6,000 fine or both for those arrested under Section 188. It says that prison term may be extended to up to six months if disobedience of the order might cause harm to human life or health.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 10^th, 2015.