KARACHI, Dec 20: Veteran trade union leader S.P. Lodhi died here on Tuesday after a protracted illness. He was 80. He was laid to rest in the Mohammad Shah graveyard, North Karachi. He has left behind a daughter and five sons.

His funeral procession was attended by a large number of workers and labour leaders, who also laid wreaths on his grave.

S. P. Lodhi, born on Sept 6, 1925 in Aligarh, was one of the founders of the trade union movement in Pakistan. He was a leading expert on labour and industrial laws. Throughout his life, he stood by progressive movements and struggled for the establishment an egalitarian society.

He migrated to Pakistan from Aligarh soon after the country came into being and settled in Karachi. He joined Pakistan Railways, but due to his trade union activities, he was sacked. Later, he became a full-time trade unionist.

Mr Lodhi as a trade union leader attended many tripartite labour conferences in various parts of the country and had several foreign tours to represent Pakistani workers at the Internal Labour Organization in Geneva.

He became founder secretary-general of the All Pakistan Trade Union Organization 25 years back and continue to be re-elected to the post till his last day. He had also been the convener of the Action Committee against IRO-2002 till his death.

In recognition of his selfless services to the journalists’ community, as well as to the working community, Mr Lodhi was made life member of the Karachi Press Club. His trade union activities landed him into prison several times and he served various jail terms.

Labour leaders, including Habibuddin Junedi, Shafiuddi Ashraf, Ghulam Sarwar Chandio and Nasir Mansoor, have condoled his death and paid rich tributes to him for his services. They said in the death of Mr Lodhi the workers had lost a dedicated leader and the vacuum thus created would be difficult to fill for a long time.

Labour leaders who attended his funeral included: Nabi Ahmed, Kaneez Fatima, Habibullah Junedi, Baseer Naveed, Abdul Aziz Memon, Waqar Haider, Bashir Ahmed, Rafiq Malik, Manzoor Razi, Muhammad Islam, Nadira Perveen, Muhammad Saeed, Jalil Shah, Makhdoom Ayub, Sharafat Ali, Nasiruddin Mehmood, Farooq Bungash, Shaikh Majeed, Lateef Mughal, Manzoor Badayooni, Shahanshah, Liaquat Sahi, Qamarul Hassan, Saleem Akhtar, Shahid Naqvi, Zar Muhammad and Ghulam Qasim.