HYDERABAD, Feb 23: The leaders of five labour federations of the country have threatened to launch a countrywide movement in protest against misuse of the Workers Welfare Fund and EOBI.

Addressing a news conference at the press club here on Thursday, secretary general of Muttahida Labour Federation Pakistan Qamoos Gul Khattak, president of National Labour Federation Sindh, Rana Mehmood Ali Khan, Ghulam Qasim Khan of All Pakistan Trade Unions Organisation, additional secretary of Pakistan Workers Federation, Mehboob Ali Qureshi and secretary general of Sindh Sugar Mills Workers Federation said the 18th Amendment was an eyewash because it deprived the provinces of certain rights which they had enjoyed before the passage of this amendment.

Rana Mehmood Ali Khan said that over the past four years, the rulers had ruthlessly used the Workers Welfare Fund to further their own political objectives instead of spending it on the welfare of workers.

He alleged that the prime minister had used Rs1 billion of the fund in the name of flood affectees and finance minister had taken out a huge amount of Rs88 billion to meet budget deficit.

He said the welfare schemes launched by previous government were being put off because of funds shortage. The government had not contributed even a single rupee to the fund and the entire amount had been recovered from factory owners, he said.

Rana said that although the government was trustee of the fund, it had used the money for political objectives. The workers had been deprived of their old age pension, dowry grant, sewing machines and other benefits, he said.

He said the labour minister, Syed Khursheed Shah, had handed over all financial and administrative authority of provincial workers welfare boards to the Workers Welfare Fund Islamabad while the provincial boards had been shorn of all powers.

He rejected the condition of Nikahnama for the release of dowry grant and said the condition had been abolished by then Sindh Minister for Industry Dewan Yousuf Farooqui.

For all practical purposes, he said, an administration similar to the infamous One Unit had been imposed on the provincial workers welfare boards and condemned dictatorial attitude of the chairman of EOBI.

He vowed to protect the workers’ fund and warned the government if their reservations were not addressed they would launch a countrywide protest movement.

Sons of landlord seek recovery of father

Seven sons of the chieftain of Khokhar community, Sardar Haji Ghulam Hussain Khokhar, have alleged that their ailing father is being held incommunicado in some foreign country by their brother, Mir Mohammad Khokhar, who wants to usurp all property.

Addressing a news conference here on Thursday, Haji Khair Mohammad Khokhar, Haji Sher Mohammad Khokhar, Aftab Ahmed Khokhar, Aijaz Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Zulfiqar Ahmed and Sarfaraz Ahmed appealed to the president, prime minister and superior judiciary to order recovery of their father who was a big landlord of Tando Allahyar and a well known figure of Sindh.

Haji Khair Mohammad Khokhar said their father suffered a paralysis attack in 2009 which seriously affected his memory. He was taken to Malaysia for treatment where family members took turns to look after him, he said.

When their brother Mir Mohammad Khokhar went there he shifted him from the hospital to some other place without informing them and forcibly took over possession of their ancestral home and posted armed guards to prevent other heirs from entering it, he said.

He said that his father had nine sons and four daughters.

He said that they had filed a petition for the recovery of their father in the Sindh High Court, which appointed a retired judge of the Supreme Court, Mr Rehmat Hussain Jafri, as a commissioner and directed him to ensure a meeting of all family members with their father.