25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

HYDERABAD, June 24: Former MNA Abdul Sattar Buchani has announced full support of the People's Party Parliamentarians for the National Labour Federation's proposal to observe a country-wide strike on July 29.

He was speaking as chief guest at the oath-taking ceremony of the SCARP irrigation tube-well labour union of Hala division at a hotel here on Wednesday.

He said that the party founder Z. A. Bhutto was a staunch supporter of the working class and he had enacted many laws for the benefit of workers.

Mr Buchani said that chairperson Benazir Bhutto was engaged in a relentless battle for the rights of the downtrodden. He said that the government had totally failed in resolving the problems of people and added that it was promulgating laws to crush the working class.

Speaking on the occasion, NLF Sindh chapter president Rana Mehmood Ali said that not only the working class but even the public sector employees were crucified at the altar of Industrial Relations Ordinance 2002 and Compulsory Retirement Ordinance 2000.

He said that the workers had been deprived of their rights under these ordinances and retrenchment, unemployment and hyper- inflation had become the order of the day. He said that the biggest issue facing the working class was the contract system.

He urged the workers to demonstrate unity by observing a country-wide strike on July 29. Ghulam Dastagir, Mir Fateh Talpur, Fayaz Shah, Raheem Baloch, Shakeel Shaikh, Azeem Laghari, Mohammad Hashim and others also spoke on the occasion.

ASV: Sindh health services authorities on Wednesday dispatched 200 vials of anti-snake venom to the EDO health Tharparkar. DG health services directed the official to ensure the distribution of 50 vials in each taluka hospital of the district. He announced that a free medical camp would be held in Hyderabad on June 27 to provide free medical assistance to people with insufficient means.