HYDERABAD, March 25: The Naib Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami Senator Prof Ghafoor Ahmed on Tuesday criticized the Industrial Relations Ordinance-2002 and urged the government to hold a tripartite conference to strengthen the country’s industrial sector.

He called on the government for considering the recommendations of Prof Shafi Malik, which he said, had been accepted by former federal minister for labour late Umar Asghar Khan.

The JI leader was speaking at a seminar on the IRO-2002, which was jointly organized by the National Labour Federation and the Pakistan Workers Training and Education Trust at a local hotel.

He said that if Mr Khan had been alive, he would have advised the government to accept the recommendations, which were in the best interests of all stakeholders.

Expressing the hope that the government would not make IRO- 2002 a matter of ego like it had made the Legal Framework Order, he called for holding a tripartite conference to strengthen the industrial sector.

The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal leader was of the opinion that constitutional and legal issues should be resolved through amicable negotiations.

He urged the stakeholders- including employers, employees and the government- to perform their positive role to achieve the objectives of investment, development and industrial peace.

Speaking on the occasion, the JI’s MNA, Asadullah Bhutto, described the new IRO as being pro- industrialists, saying that the law did not guarantee the industrial development in the country.

It was, he said, necessary to maintain a balance between the workers, trade unions and the entrepreneurs, adding that the IRO-2002 was repugnant to the Constitution and the UN Charter. Mr Bhutto said that unfortunately the present government was the continuation of the previous government.