Privatisation aims to oblige favourites, says Siraj

LAHORE
Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Sirajul Haq has warned that government was planning mass privatisation of the national institutions only to oblige its favourites.
Talking to a National Labour Federation delegation at Mansoora on Monday, he said Jamaat-e-Islami would put up a strong resistance to any attempt of privatisation and would stand for the workers’ rights.
Sirajul Haq said the privatisation in the past had created numerous problems, including large scale unemployment of workers.
He said the government had not given any account of the gains and losses of the privatisation done in the past while plans were afoot to sell out more state institutions in the name of privatisation.
He said privatisation was being done on the dictates of the IMF against national interest.
There was a plan to sell out 68 national institutions on throw-away prices and mostly, the people in the government were interested in the purchase which implied that privatisation would not be transparent.
He said it was the duty of the government to utilise its energies to strengthen institutions to ensure national development and to create job opportunities for the workers. However, he said, the rulers in Islamabad were busy in the loot sale of the institutions. He said the national institutions had assets running into billions and the national and foreign companies had their eyes on that.
Sirajul Haq said the farmers, Haris and workers were leading miserable lives. Their children were without education and health facilities. Exploitation in the society had crossed all limits.
The rich were growing richer, the poor were getting poorer. All the resources in the country were in the hands of the rich and the millions of poor did not get two times meals.
He said industrial development in the country was largely due to the hard work of the labourers but the workers did not get a fair deal from the government or the employer.
He said labour laws framed at provincial level after the 18th Amendment were against the spirit of the Constitution and should be reviewed.