Heartbreaking song by Jawwad Ahmed for the victims of Baldia Town factory incident let loose tears rolling down out of already watered eyes that held them until now.
“Hamid Ali was my only son and sole bread-earner of our house. I have six daughters and I have to get them married,” said Mubina Sultana with weary face whose old husband is sick.
A large number of workers, civil society members and heirs of Ali Enterprises factory fire victims gathered in front of Ali Enterprises on Friday.
They demanded that the killers of 260 Baldia factory workers should be taken to the task. They said the killers included the owners of factory, international brand KIK and social audit company RINA, but they were still at large even after three years of the tragedy.
The family members of the victims told that middlemen coming to their homes were blackmailing them to get their pensions and rations released.
The National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF) and Association of the Affectees of Baldia Tragedy organised a big condolence programme at the site of Baldia fire tragedy on the occasion of third anniversary of factory inferno, which was jointly presided over by NTUF central president Muhammad Rafiq Baloch and Association of the Affectees of Baldia Tragedy President Muhammad Jabir.
NTUF Deputy General Secretary Nasir Mansoor said even after three years of this biggest industrial fire incident, almost every factory of Pakistan depicted the scenario of Ali Enterprises in terms of lack of safety and healthcare measures. He said workers were doing their jobs, and were facing grave threats to their health and life.
NTUF President Rafiq Baloch said feudal lords and industrialists sitting in Parliament always make hue and cry for democracy, but they do not give the workers of their factories and farms basic right of union making. He said these elite class people had slapped an unannounced martial law on their workers.
Association of the Affectees of Baldia Tragedy President Muhammad Jabir said the promises made with the heirs of victims were yet to be fulfilled. “The government has completely forgotten them. Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, who was opposition leader at the time of incident, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, and Baharia Town tycoon Malik Riaz had promised them compensation, plots and jobs but these promises are yet to be materialised.”
The moot participants vowed that the sacrifices of 260 martyred workers would not go waste and they would uproot the system of injustice and exploitation from industrial organisations.
International organisations like A-Ban member organisations, Medico International, European Center for Constitutional & Human Rights (ECCHR) and ANROEV also showed their solidarity through letters and messages. A join statement of InduriALL Global Union, Uni Global Union, Clean Cloth Campaign, Mi, NTUF, ECCHR and other labour right bodies also issued in Germany on 10th September to mark the day.
The protesters demanded that serious steps should be taken to save lives of workers at factories and workplaces. The heirs of the victims of Baldia factory fire should be given lifetime pension cards, group insurance and gratuity. DNA certificates of the victims that are yet to be identified should be issued. Prime minister, Sindh chief minister and Malik Riaz should fulfill their promises with the heirs of the victims. KIK and RINA should accept their responsibilities and meet the demands of the heirs. Implementation on all labour laws and standards of ILO and GSP+ should be ensured. At the time of recruitment appointment letters should be given to workers. The wages of labors should be increased proportionately with price hike and these wages should be paid through banks.
They also strongly condemned murders of journalists in Karachi and Peshawar.
Those who spoke included NTUF Deputy General Secretary Nasir Mansoor, President NTUF Rafiq Baloch, Association of the Affectees of Baldia Tragedy leaders Muhammad Jabir and Saeeda Khatoon, Abdul Aziz, General Secretary of Home-Based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF) Zehra Khan and Workers Rights Movement leader Gul Rahman.
Besides Karachi, NTUF workers held condolence programmes and protest rallies at Hub, Balochsitan, Lahore, Hyderabad, Faisalabad, Sanghar, Tando Muhammad Khan and Thatta on the third anniversary of Baldia factory fire.
