KARACHI - A street school for kids of protesting dock workers of Port Qasim Authority will be established at the ongoing sit-in camp in front of Karachi Press Club today. These kids are out of school for non-payment of fees as their fathers working at Port Qasim are without pay for 4 months.
Earlier, the kids also staged a silent demonstration in front of Karachi Press Club while holding placards and banners inscribed with slogans ‘we want to learn’ and ‘we want to continue our education’, ‘pay salaries to our fathers’ etc.
Speaking to journalists in front of Karachi press club, General Secretary of the Workers Union of Port Qasim CBA Hussain Badshah demanded that government should accept their demands. Pending salaries of five months of dock workers should be paid; their identity cards be issued without any further delay and Dock Workers Act 1974 be implemented in letter in spirit at Port Qasim, he urged. “We will announce our next strategy in few days if government still put deaf ear to our demands,” he added.
Union President Akhlaq Ahmed Khan said that government should accept their four demands. Pending salaries of five months of dock workers should be paid; their identity cards be issued without any further delay and Dock Workers Act 1974 be implemented in letter in spirit at Port Qasim.
He told that on assurance of few parliamentarians, they postponed their ultimatum for marching towards Sindh governor house but no support was provided.
Our delegation including Secretary General Hussain Badshah, Additional Secretary General Abdul Wahid, Qari Ziaullah and others were in Islamabad since a week to visit parliamentarians. They have already met with Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser, Federal Defence Minister Pervez Khattak, Parliamentary Secretary Capt. Retd. Jameel Khan, MNAs Gul Zafar Khan, Aslam Khan, Agha Rafiullah, Abdul Qadir Patel, Jam Abdul Karim, Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Noor-ul-Haq Qadri. Our delegation has presented them demands and urged to raise voice for workers on assembly floor, he added.
