Family, friends pay tribute to slain PIA employee Inayet Raza

Karachi

A condolence reference to commemorate the struggle of a slain employee of the Pakistan International Airlines, Inayet Raza, was held by the National Students Federation (NSF), Karachi, at the Karachi Press Club on Friday.

Raza was killed along with another PIA employee on February 2 during a protest organised by the workers’ unions of the PIA in a bid to resist the federal government’s move to privatise the national airline.

According to protesters, the bullet was allegedly fired by Rangers personnel present in the midst of the demonstrators. The claim has, however, been denied by the paramilitary force as well as by the federal authorities.

The gathering was attended by activists from the NSF, Karachi, and members of civil society, who lauded Raza’s efforts and remembered his activism which he began from the platform of the left-leaning students’ organization, NSF, during his time at the Shipowners College, North Nazimabad, in 1979.

“He remained an ardent supporter of leftist politics all his life, which is why he died at a protest organised to protect the rights of the workers,” observed former NSF-Karachi president Hasan Ailya, also a close associate of Raza.

A member of the NSF’s district organising committee, Fawad Hasan, observed: “The state’s use of brutal repression against peaceful activists is a reprehensible act.”

He claimed that it would be a grave injustice to Raza if the PIA privatisation and his death were treated as two separate incidents.

Condemning the government’s move to privatise PIA, he said, “In order to sweep aside incompetence of the ruling governments, bureaucratic and political interference, the state now wishes to privatise the national flag carrier at the cost of its workers.”

Reiterating the party’s stance, he added that the NSF stood against the privatisation of the country’s national assets, and called for putting a stop to “flawed economic policies”.

Raza’s daughter, Zehra Rizvi, spoke of her father’s activism as well as of his role as a parent. The audience gave her a standing ovation after they were left teary-eyed following her recitation of a poem, calling for people to always stand by the oppressed, oft- recited by Raza.

PIA Joint Action Committee and Skyways Union leader Sheikh Majeed, Railway Workers’ Union President Manzoor Razi, representative Awami Jamhoori Mahaz Hasan Ailya, KPC General Secretary AH Khanzada, noted journalist Tauseef Ahmed and Anees Baqar also spoke.