Whenever a democratic dispensation is in place, people feel their concerns are listened to, and their demands are somehow met. It was primarily because of this assumption that hundreds of Lady Health Workers came out to protest in order to press for their just demand of the payment of salaries, which have been stopped consecutively for four months. They also demanded the regularization of their service structure, which is very much a right of these long serving government employees. It was on 23rd March, 2011 that the unheard and disappointed LHWs observed a hunger strike at Mari, a small village situated along National Highway. It is an undisputable fact that a welfare state can never behave so inhumanly towards a weaker segment of its society, as those peaceful women protesters were indeed. Police fired tear gas and baton-charged the LHWs as well as Miss Marvi Memon, an honourable Parliamentarian, who was courageous enough to face all odds, in support of the agitating health workers. The appointment of LHWs was made under the National Programme for Family Planning and Primary Health initiated by none other than Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto back in 1994. As many as 112,000 LHWs are working across the country with about 25000 of them providing primary health care in Sindh. The Government has stated time and again that it is against the policy of ad-hocism in employment and we have also seen some historic employee-friendly measures of this government such as the repeal of notorious Removal from Service Ordinance and reinstatement of all the sacked employees. LHWs should not be an exception in this regard. Finally, I will request the honourable President and Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to direct the authorities concerned to take immediate steps for the redressal of just demands of LHWs. KASHIF ALI RAJPER, Islamabad, April 1