FAISALABAD: Shabbir, an accountant at a powerloom on Sargodha Road, that has been closed because of the lockdown imposed in the province to control Covid-19, has to deal with four to five workers daily who after being rendered jobless, demand money to make both ends meet.

He had no other option but to give some money to Asif, a weaver at the unit rendered jobless since its closure, who had arrived at his house with his children seeking financial help to buy food for his family.

“But, being myself a salaried person, I can’t help every jobless worker turning up at my door seeking money,” Shabbir says, adding that the powerloom owner had stopped taking calls because of the crisis.

The ongoing lockdown has rendered thousands of powerlooms workers jobless who are facing acute financial crisis since closure of these units as a majority of them have no other source of income.

Textile exporters want the sector to be treated as ‘essential service’

The Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturer and Exporters Association (PHMEA) central chairman Haji Salamat Ali says the sector was in the grip of an unprecedented crisis.

“We appeal to the Prime Minister Imran Khan to treat the export sector on a par with essential services and give special instructions to the Pakistani embassies to use their good offices to approach the concerned ministries, departments and buyers in respective countries to convince them to not cancel the textile orders given to Pakistani exporters in this crisis,” he says.

USA, EU, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and Japan are major destinations for Pakistan’s exports. Reportedly, many foreign buyers are cancelling their orders, while several others want a slowdown in the production [waiting for the pandemic to be over], Salamat Ali laments.

He says every possible effort should be made to maintain business with foreign buyers in order to sustain exports in the interest of the country, he adds.

The PHMEA chairman says the textile exports is a labour intensive sector and contributes more than 50 percent of the national exports. “We believe that exports should also be treated on a par with essential services being the highest foreign exchange earner and employment provider,” he says.

A couple of days ago, dozens of workers of a textile mills at Khurrianwala had staged a protest demonstration against its administration for not paying them their salaries.

The workers said they had been performing their duties despite the lockdown but instead of helping them out during the financial crisis the mills administration was dealing with them rudely and threatening to deprive them of their jobs.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2020