Labour leaders demand end to privatisation programme
Karachi
February 7, 2021
Expressing solidarity with the protesting workers of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) and the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the National Labour Council (NLC) had demanded of the government to call off its privatisation programme.
In a joint meeting of the NLC held at the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (Piler) Centre on Friday evening, the participants expressed serious concerns over delay in the hearing of a petition of workers in Balochistan regarding banning of trade unions in state-owned organisations.
Khan Zaman of the Balochistan Labour Federation said the Balochistan High Court had imposed a ban on 62 trade unions in the government entities without any justification.
KARACHI: Federal and provincial ministers, leaders of different political parties, senior journalists and civil society representatives came together to discuss the state of press freedom and the present media crisis in the country at a seminar here on Saturday.
The programme, which was organised by the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in collaboration with the Karachi Union of Journalists (KUJ), also featured the launch of a PFUJ book titled From Layoffs to Lashes: PFUJ’s 70-Year Fight for Media Freedom.
While the journalist fraternity highlighted the need for building a united front against all the injustices and for documenting the same besides demanding legislation for journalists’ protection, senior political leaders called the present situation ‘the times of hopelessness’ and said it was the government responsibility to ensure media freedom that the constitution guaranteed.
CSOs decry denial of access to residential areas, road blockades around National Stadium
Karachi
January 23, 2021
Civil society, human rights, and trade union leaders have condemned the traffic mismanagement in Karachi and cordoning off the residential areas around the National Stadium in the name of security for a Test match to be played next week at the stadium.
In a joint statement issued here on Friday, Karamat Ali, executive director of the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research; Habibuddin Junaidi of the Peopleâs Labour Bureau; Nasir Mansoor, general secretary, National Trade Union Federation (NTUF); Farhat Perveen, executive director, NOW Communities; Liaquat Sahi from the Democratic Workers Union of the State Bank of Pakistan; Nazim F. Haji, former chief of Citizens-Police Liaison Committee; and Majyd Aziz, former president of the Employers Federation of Pakistan, demanded restricting security inside the stadium premises.
Dr Zafar Mirza speaks at the KPC on Thursday. PPI
KARACHI: The coronavirus pandemic, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and precautions to prevent its spread and the Covid-19 vaccine were at the fore of the media talk by former adviser to the prime minister on health Dr Zafar Mirza here on Thursday.
“These days, any talk about health turns to talk about Covid-19. We have been quite lucky here in Pakistan to not have experienced the kind of devastation that so many other countries went through,” he said at the event organised by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research at the Karachi Press Club.