LAHORE, June 23: “The extension of labourers’ working hours for up to twelve hours a day is sheer cruelty. This will neither leave the poor worker with the time he has with his family, nor will it reverse his fortunes in any meaningful way,” says a press release issued here on Friday by the Democratic Women’s Association.

“What we need is a more humane labour regime at a time when the number of the poor and the unemployed living on or below the poverty line has been on the rise. This is necessary to raise a more productive and focused workforce,” concludes the release. Speaking to Dawn, DWA secretary-general Begum Tahira Mazhar Ali said, “The ill-conceived decision makes a further mockery of labour laws whose implementation has remained a pipedream all these years. Instead of improving the working conditions for millions of labourers who form the backbone of the economy, the government is bent upon stealing from them whatever little they have.” — Reporter