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KARACHI, March 11: Various political parties, condemning the removal of over 2,000 Habib Bank employees, have demanded their immediate reinstatement, urging the authorities to take action against the bank management.
In a statement, the MQM Coordination Committee pointed out that owing to hard work by the employees, the profit of the bank had increased from approximately Rs 4.25 billion (in Dec 2004) to Rs 13 billion in Dec 2005.
It termed the sacking of employees a conspiracy, and urged President Pervaiz Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to take notice of the sackings and take action against the management, which at the time of privatization had promised that the employees would not be sacked.
The MQM said unrest was spreading among workers and steps be taken for reinstatement of sacked workers.
JAMAT-I-ISLAMI: Strongly condemning the retrenchment of over 2,000 workers of the Habib Bank, the Jamat Islami has termed it an anti-worker step and has demanded that all those sacked be reinstated.
In a statement, JI Sindh chief Dr Mumtaz Memon observed that the retrenchment of 2,500 staff by the HBL management would result in unresh in the the country.
He said if those staffers were a burden on the bank, they could have been provided alternatives jobs.
He demanded of the government to take notice of the anti-poor and irrational decision of the bank management, and called for devising a concrete strategy for provision of jobs to people.
PML: The President of Pakistan Muslim League Labour Wing (Sindh) Mohammed Arif Hasan said that the managements of some organizations were creating unrest among workers by retrenching their employees.
He was talking to a 15-member delegation of Habib Bank workers which called on him to inform about the removal of 2300 lower grade non-clerical staff.
The delegation informed him that the employees were retrenched in security, transport and other departments, and the management had signed contracts with newly-established companies for re-appointment of transport workers and security guards, respectively; but all the employees had rejected this formula.
