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Power loom workers arrested on charges of extortion in Karachi, Pakistan

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4 April, 2012

From the IMF website

Etehad town, Baldia Karachi is the hub of power looms and towel manufacturing units established by the big textile exporters like Al Karam. Thousands of small and medium size factories have been operating without being registered under the Factories Act. As a result, hundreds and thousands of workers working in theses factories are denied legal protections. They are working under miserable conditions without appointment letters, social security, weakly off and work for long hours with low wages.  Workers of power looms and towel industries formed a union Al Etehad Mazdoor Union, which is registered with labour department in Sindh Province and affiliated to National Trade Union Federation of Pakistan (NTUF). 
 
For the past two months the union has started peaceful campaign to register the factories under the Factories Act, increase wages along with other demands to improve working conditions. In response, employers engaged in anti-workers acts and retrenched hundreds of workers and declared unlawful lock-outs.

The union launched complaints against the illegal closure of the factories and retrenchments in the labour department. On March 21, 2012 the labour department officials called on the factory owners to a meeting to discuss and resolve the issue. However, employers disregarded the call and started harassing workers through the police.
 
In this backdrop, the police and the Ranger Force came in dozens of vehicles and raided the houses of union activists on March 21 and arrested 6 workers on the charges of terrorist act. All arrested workers were severely tortured and later produced in the Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) No.2 at Karachi on March 24. The judge warned the police against the torture of the workers and ordered the investigation officer (IO) to provide proper medical treatment to the tortured workers. The court also ordered the police to produce workers in the ATC on March 29.
 
The police filed first information report (FIR) against a total of 12 workers including office bearers of Al Etehad Power Looms Mazdoor Union out of which, six are under arrest. Union activists allege that the police severely tortured workers in Machko police station and forced them to accept before the media of their involvement in extortion (Bhatta) activities in the industrial area. However, workers stood firm and did not give-in to the pressures of the police.
 
Union representatives met Sindh Labour Minister, informed Labour Department and appealed to Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of Sindh High Court for their immediate intervention to protect workers’ rights. On March 23, NTUF workers held a protest demonstration at Karachi Press Club, demanding the immediate release of arrested workers. Nasir Mansoor, Deputy General Secretary of NTUF says that “it is an attempt to crush workers’ struggle for their rights”, and called up on the international workers to extend solidarity and exert pressure on the Government of Pakistan to respect workers’ rights.