LARKANA: Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, president of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Sindh chapter, has strongly opposed the federal government’s proposed plan to abolish the Karachi Dock Labour Board (KDLB), an institution established since 1974.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, he described the move as anti-labour, warning that it would render 2,600 registered dock workers jobless.
He announced that the PPP would extend its full support to the protest movement launched by the Joint Alliance of Labour Unions against the federal government’s move to shut down the board. “We stand with the workers in their struggle,” he declared.
Mr Khuhro, who also heads the Public Accounts Committee of Sindh Assembly, urged the Centre to take notice of the ongoing protest by the dock workers and shelve its plan to dissolve the institution, in order to end the anxiety prevailing among the 2,600 workers’ families.
He stated that the KDLB is a constitutional body established under the Regulation of Employment Act 1974, where 2,600 registered daily-wage workers serve in day and night shifts at the port, playing a vital role in sustaining the country’s economic activities.
Mr Khuhro pointed out that the institution is not a burden on the federal treasury, as the government neither provides grants nor funding to it. “The board generates its own revenue under its law and spends it on the welfare of workers. Despite this, the federal government wants to shut down the KDLB and economically murder 2,600 registered workers, something the PPP will not allow to succeed,” he added.
He clarified that the party is not against privatisation but is opposed to the outright closure of institutions. He warned that hundreds of families would be pushed into starvation as a result of this federal action.
Meanwhile, leaders of the KDLB labour unions and the Joint Action Committee, led by Ahmed Saeed, called on Nisar Khuhro and appealed for his support.
Responding to it, the PPP Sindh president formally announced the party’s backing for the workers’ protest campaign.
Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2026
