Cargo handling at Port Qasim was partly suspended for hours on Tuesday after protesting dock workers blocked the transportation route at the country’s second largest seaport. Sources claimed that Pakistan Rangers personnel baton-charged hundreds of workers, who were demanding payment of their salaries and restoration of medical facilities, which according to their spokesman Haji Gul Muhammad, have been suspended for the last three months. Vehicular traffic at the Landhi Road was disrupted for hours as the protesters also staged a sit-in at Quaidabad. The protest was indirectly linked to workers agitation against the private grain terminal owned by Fauji Akbar Portia (FAP) that has been continuing for the past few weeks. The workers are demanding employment at the fully-automated bulk terminal, but the FAP refused, saying there is no need for manual work at the facility.
