The Pasban-e-Pakistan on Thursday staged a protest demo in front of Karachi Press Club (KPC) against the suicide of a jobless Chingchi rickshaw driver in Karachi.
Addressing the demo, Pasban-e-Pakistan joint secretary Tariq Chandiwala said the suicide of a jobless Chingchi driver, Zulfiqar Ali Khuwaja, in Sachal Goth area of Karachi, is a slap across the provincial government of Sindh that miserably failed to mitigate the public transport issue in the city. He vowed that Pasban would continue its struggle for legal and human rights of the Chingchi drivers and finding alternate source of earning for them. He demanded of the government to pay compensation to the bereaved family.
On the occasion, family members of the deceased and a large number of jobless Chingchi drivers and office-bearers of Chingchi and CNG Rickshaws Association were present.
Tariq Chandiwala said after banning Chingchi rickshaws thousands of families have been braving a starvation-like situation. He said providing them alternate jobs and also providing Karachi commuters alternate public transport was the responsibility of Sindh government, but it had so far displayed its traditional bad governance and apathy on this sensitive issue due to which a poor Chingchi driver had to commit suicide. He asked why the rulers had failed to realise that a man could commit suicide but he could not see his innocent children facing hunger and starvation.
He appealed to the chief justice of Sindh High Court to take a suo motu notice of the suicide of Chingchi driver Zulfiqar Khuwaja. He said there were thousands of other jobless Chingchi drivers in the city who could also commit such an extreme acts due to poverty and hunger. He asked the government to take steps on priority to resolve the issue of joblessness of thousands of Chingchi drivers on humanitarian grounds. He demanded provision of alternate public transport to the jobless drivers and also to facilitate Karachi commuters.
Javed Ahmed Chiitari, a senior lawyer of Supreme Court of Pakistan, said thousands of people had been rendered jobless by banning Chingchi rickshaws on the basis of a court decision. He said had the Sindh government issued proper permits, vehicle fitness to these rickshaws and regularised them, these people could have been saved from hunger and citizens could also have not faced acute shortage of public transport. He warned if urgent actions were not taken after the suicide of Chingchi driver Zulfiqar Ali Khuwaja, many other serious and sad incidents could occur in the city.
