April 17, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1429

MIRPURKHAS, April 16: Scores of sacked employees of Mirpurkhas Sugar Mills staged a rally here on Tuesday in protest against the large-scale forced dismissals of workers by the mills management.

The protesters led by chairman of Mazdoor Action Committee Dur Mohammad Baloch and vice-chairman Rafique Arain started the rally from Market Chowk which terminated at the press club after marching on main roads of the city.

The labour leaders accused the mills management of forcibly dismissing regular employees by imposing black laws and denying bonus and medical facilities. It also did away with the yearly Hajj quota of labourers, they said.

They warned that the labour union, which had now been restored by the government, would make take the mills management to task and demanded that the government order restoration of all the previous facilities of the sacked employees.

CRIME: The Mirpurkhas chapter of the Core Group of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan demanded replacement of the DIG, DPO and concerned SHOs who had failed to control growing crimes in the district.

The group, which met on Tuesday under Kanji Ranomal Bheel, condemned growing incidents of crime including robberies, kidnapping, murder and street crime and urged the government to appoint sincere and honest police officers to curb the menace.

The group demanded that the government should withdraw false cases lodged against HRCP activists in the district and suggested introduction of Chowkidari system in rural areas. Asghar Narejo, Amarchand advocate, Dr Aanand Kumar and Sarwan Kumar were among those who attended the meeting.

Finance minister’s announcement hailed

A member of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s central committee, Ahmed Saeed Kaimkhani, has welcomed the federal minister for finance Ishaq Dar’s pledge not to take loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

In a statement, he demanded of the federal finance minister to take revolutionary measures for restoration of damaged customs, sales tax and income tax department systems.

He said that there was a need to give proper attention to improve this department and encourage small traders, industries and cottage industries. He said that working of these departments was adversely had affected and continuous changes in policies of the government.