PSM workers end month-long protest sit-in against retrenchment

Sacked workers of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) on Sunday ended their almost one-month-long protest sit-in outside the residence of the PSM chief executive officer after Sindh Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah persuaded them to do so.

The information minister visited the camp of the protesting workers of the PSM and also attended the funeral prayers of one of the participants of the sit-in, Sher Muhammad, who died on the previous night due to heart failure.

Speaking on the occasion, Shah said the federal government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf had been completely indifferent to the problems of the agitating people associated with the PSM.

He added that had the federal government been mindful of the plight of the protesting workers of the PSM, it should not have dismissed them from service in the first instance. He advised the protesting workers of the PSM not to expect any relief from the federal government. He asked them to end their sit-in but continue with their protest movement in other ways.

The information minister said the Sindh government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would continue to provide the protesting PSM workers with due legal, constitutional, and moral support.

He explained that the chairman of the PPP had also issued directives to this effect, adding that after those directives, the Sindh chief minister constituted a committee comprising members of the Sindh cabinet to look into the problems of the PSM workers.

Shah said the committee in question was headed by him and its other members included Sindh Education and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani, Sindh Law and Environment Adviser Barrister Murtaza Wahab, Special Assistant to CM Waqar Mehdi and others.

According to the information minister, the Sindh CM had written a letter to the federal government on the issue of the PSM and another letter would also be sent on the same issue. He said the PPP wanted to see the PSM becoming functional as it would be beneficial for the country and its economy.

Anti-encroachment drive

About the controversy on the anti-encroachment operation in District Malir a day earlier, Shah informed media persons that the anti-encroachment drive was being carried out in Karachi on the directives of the Supreme Court.

He maintained that the anti-encroachment campaign was being conducted in all the districts of Karachi and so far 4,000 acres of precious government land had been retrieved from encroachers in East, West and Malir districts.

He added that 1,200 acres of land had been retrieved from District Malir alone and a progress report on the anti-encroachment drive had been submitted to the apex court. He explained that the land in District Malir had been given on a 30-year lease for farming or establishing poultry and dairy farms and it was not meant for constructing palatial buildings for commercial gains.

He said influential persons and politicians should not be allowed to carry out such illegal activities.