THE violent clashes between labourers of a power-loom factory at Thekariwala in Faisalabad and its guards and the torching of two factories belonging to the same owner by the infuriated workers as a consequence point to a serious crisis through which the country is at present passing. It would be too facile to put it down to the extremist bent of mind that our society is afflicted with today. In fact, to understand the phenomenon of Tuesday's flared up emotions that resulted in the injuries of seven workers and five policemen and the loss of hundreds of thousands of rupees, one must look into the provocation behind the incident. The workers felt enraged when their protests met with aerial shots fired by the factory guards and when they became too 'troublesome' the police used teargas to disperse them. They are reported to have also set three other factories ablaze. According to a news story, the labourers' demand that certain deductions being made from their wages should be stopped had not found a responsive ear in the factory owner, who happens to be an MPA of the PML-Q. A day earlier, they had also protested peacefully against the cut, putting forward the argument that the high rate of inflation was already making it too hard for them to scrape through, but it failed to move him either. The real reason behind the ugly incident, therefore, appears to lie in the workers' straitened circumstances, made worse by the runaway price hike. The deductions had become too pinching. One would imagine that under the circumstances they, in fact, wanted an enhanced pay packet. Punjab Labour Minister Ashraf Sohna addressed the protesters and assured them that the government would not stand the workers being subjected to heavy-handedness. Seven persons have been arrested with weapons. An investigation into the matter to punish those found to be stepping beyond the limits of the law must be held. One hopes that the Minister would help resolve the real problem that compelled the labourers to protest in the first instance.