KARACHI, Dec 9: Speakers at a meeting on Saturday demanded that all anti-labour laws, including the Industrial Relations Ordinance (IRO) 2002, be repealed and trade union activities allowed in all organisations so that workers rights could be secured.

They were speaking at a demonstration – called the Justice Walk -- organised by the Pearl Continental Hotel Karachi Workers Solidarity Committee. The demonstration was held in connection with the International Human Rights Day, which is celebrated around the globe on December 10.

The demonstrators were chanting slogans in support of their demands and were also carrying placards and banners with their demands written on them. The protesters gathered at the Habib Bank Plaza on I. I. Chundrigar Road and then after passing through various city roads came to the Press Club, where the procession turned into a rally and leaders spoke at it.

The speakers further demanded that all the workers sacked under different pretexts be reinstated immediately. They also demanded that workers’ rights cut in the financial institutions under the finance bill be restored.

Pointing out that the country was a signatory to various international human rights conventions and was bound to make its local laws in conformity with its international commitments, they demanded that rights of all citizens in general and workers in particular be restored.

They demanded that access to justice of the common people in general and the poor in particular be made easy and affordable so that the rule of law could be ensured and everyone’s rights protected.

Labour leaders Nabi Ahmad, Kaneez Fatima, Manzoor Razi, Fareed Awan, Liaquat Sahi, Shaikh Majeed, Mirza Maqssod, Malik Sher Mohammad, Ghulam Mahboob, Manzoor Badayuni, Mohammad Usman and others also spoke.