HYDERABAD, Feb 26: Participants of a workshop have called for immediate constitution of vigilance committees having judicial powers under the Bonded Labour System (Abolition) Act, 1992.
The workshop was organized by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan's Special Task Force for Sindh at a hotel here on Thursday. Hyderabad is the first district where a district vigilance committee has been formed under the chairmanship of the district Nazim in the light of the 1992 Act by the district government.
Some of the participants were critical of the format of vigilance committees and opposed inclusion of bureaucrats in the bodies. The participants said state land should be distributed among liberated peasants so that their permanent rehabilitation could be ensured otherwise they would keep wandering here and there without any job opportunities.
The workshop urged other organizations to come forward and help the HRCP ensure rehabilitation of the peasants. Muttahida Qaumi Movement MNA Prof Khalid Wahab criticized the vigilance committees' structure on the ground that it was all bureaucratic. The scope of vigilance committees should be widened, he suggested.
He said conditions of private school teachers and of those serving in small industries like the bangle industry were no different as the teachers were getting only Rs800 salary.
He regretted that multi-national companies offered jobs to local workers for six months and then terminated their services so as the labourers might not claim benefits.
Recalling that in 1960s labour unions used to be very powerful and effective, the MNA said the role of unions had become limited now as vested interests of labour unions had become dearer to labourer leaders.
He observed that fruits of the 1992 act could be delivered to peasants if they united and were aware of their fundamental rights. He said peasants would enjoy due rights after feudalism was eliminated.
Azad Hari Union general-secretary Ahmad Khan Dars said education and jobs were basic needs of peasants. He expressed the hope that peasants' conditions would improve but it needed efforts on the part of rights activists.
The participants regretted that landlords considered peasants slaves, adding that land available in Sindh should be distributed among peasants so that they could earn their livelihood. Shaheen Akhtar said land owners should be restrained from torturing peasants.
National Labour Federation leader Rana Mehmood Ali Khan stressed the need for giving vigilance committees more representative look to enable them work effectively.
He agreed with Prof Wahab that labour unions were more powerful in the past, saying many federations had been formed now and political parties had also established their own labour wings with the result that labourers had become divided.
He accused the government of introducing anti-labour policies and the contract system. District Nazim Dr Makhdoom Rafiquzzaman asked the EDO, community development department, Ibrahim, who is the secretary of district vigilance committee, to induct more individuals in the committee as suggested by the participants.
He said the sessions judge would be requested to recommend his representative for the vigilance committee. He said the Sindh government should be asked that till vigilance committees were formed in other districts, Hyderabad's vigilance committee members should be referred bonded labour issues of the districts.
Sindh HRCP vice-chairman Ali Hassan, MPA Nuzhat Pathan, district council member M. Parkash and union council-3 Nazim Q. Hakim also spoke on the occasion.