May 31, 2006	Wednesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3, 1427

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ISLAMABAD, May 30: Participants of a protest demonstration held in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday urged the apex court to take suo motu notice of privatisation of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM). The protesters, including activists of Communist Party, National Workers Party, Communist Labour Party, PRM and other organisations, were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans against privatisation of steel mills and economic policies of the government.

Speaking to the demonstrators on the occasion, representatives of Anti-Privatisation Alliance, a broad-based coalition of progressive political workers, trade unionists and intellectuals, said privatisation of steel mills was a ‘conspiracy’ against masses and the Supreme Court must take action against it.

They said the move would damage the industries of the country. Before the privatisation of PSM, giving PTCL in private sector had proven that this process was designed solely to benefit national and foreign capital, while the interests of the workers of privatised enterprises and public were completely forsaken.

The protesters alleged that privatisation of PSM had been undertaken under dubious circumstances, and there were allegations that the enterprise was being sold to elements close to the highest functionaries of the state.

The fact that the enterprise was sold for a fraction of its actual value is evidence enough of the underhanded nature of the deal, they said.

They said the workers of PSM were ready to take over the company and they would run it far better than any group of ‘profit-hungry’ capitalists.

After all the objective of crucial state enterprises such as PSM is not to make huge profits but to provide indirect subsidies to consumers and local producers, which it has done successfully for three decades, they said.