Labour organisations, led by the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), held a protest at the Mall Road on Tuesday against inflation, unemployment and load shedding and staged a three hour sit-in. The LPP demanded a 100 percent increase in salaries of labourers, as inflation has broken the back of the labour class. The rally was led by LPP leaders Farooq Tariq and Azra Shad while progressive intellectual and political analyst Lal Khan and peot Baba Najmi also participated in the protest and inspired protesters with their revolutionary speeches and poetry. More than 600 labourers, including a large number of women activists, joined the rally, which started from the General Post Office (GPO) to the Charing Cross, where the sit-in was staged.
Participants of the rally and sit-in were carrying banners, red flags and placards and chanted slogans demanding 100 percent increase in salaries of government employees and private labourers. Due to hot weather, organisers had managed dozens of rugs making protesters sit on the road in front of the Punjab Assembly (PA) at the Charing Cross. During the protest, some part of the Mall Road remained block for traffic while police cordoned-off the rally to avoid any untoward incident.
Addressing protesters, Farooq Tariq said that although the federal government had announced minimum wage at Rs 8,000 but unfortunately, factory owners and other private organisations were still not implementing the decision and giving less than Rs 5,000 to labourers, which was total injustice with the poor classes when inflation is very high. The protesters peacefully ended the sit-in after getting assurance from some police officials that they would forward their demands to the authorities concerned.
