Thousands of locals have been displaced from ancestral lands, yet neither federal nor Sindh governments have taken steps to resettle them.

By Haider Mallah

The Lakhra region starts from the Jamshoro Thermal Power House and ends near the ruins of ancient Sindhi city of Amri. This mountainous area is known as the Vero Hills. These hills have rain-fed agricultural lands, where the price per acre ranges from Rs.700000 to 1,000,000. These lands yield dry crops without requiring water or expensive agricultural inputs. In the past, crops like beans, chickpeas, millet, guar, and sesame were the backbone of prosperity for the locals. Along with that, there was a large population of livestock, which was part of their everyday livelihood.

Whenever it rained on the Vero Hills, natural grasses and herbs would sprout, and many fragrant medicinal herbs that kept people refreshed and healthy. The meat of goats raised in this region has a unique aroma and flavor not found anywhere else in Sindh.

I once met Syed Murad Ali Shah (Of Bhiria city), a long-serving provincial minister of agriculture and livestock during Zia’s regime. When I introduced myself as someone from Manjhand, his first question was:

“Why does the goat meat from your region smell so aromatic and taste so rich?”

At the time, I hadn’t paid attention to this characteristic. Later, when I asked local herders and butchers in Manjhand, they said the scent and flavor is exclusive to the goats from the Vero Hills, and it comes from the special grasses found only there.

The Khoso tribe, traditionally nomadic, has lived here for centuries. During droughts, they migrate to riverine areas and return when the hills bloom with life. Beyond the hills of Vero, the Lakhi Mountains begin, where now crushing machines break down the mountains into gravel for sale. This crushing business started during the Jam Sadiq (Former Chief Minister of Sindh) era by Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah and is then by Pakhtun investors partnering with a few locals.

Due to the drug economy and Afghan war gains, Pakhtuns have dominated the coal and crushing industries in Pakistan for years. Just as Rohri’s hills have vanished, so too will Lakhi’s mountains soon disappear.

Since the 1980s, the coal mines of Vero Hill and Lakhra have come under the control of outsiders, especially migrants from Waziristan and other tribal areas. The coal mine owners, the small businesses, the hotels, the goods transport, and manual labor are all controlled by non-locals.

The Indus Company has established a whole town named “Indus City” in Lakhra, where over a thousand businesses are operated by Pakhtuns. The market language is Pashto, and migrants from other provinces and Afghanistan have settled here in large numbers. In Union Council Manzoorabad/Khanot, even Pakhtun councilors are now elected, forcing Kotri’s landlords and Sehwan’s Syeds to give them political space. It is likely that the chairmanship of this union council will also soon go to a Pakhtun, much like Lala Rehman Pathan, a university professor, who became chairman of the Jamshoro Mohrho Hills Union Council.

Some Sindhi capitalists also entered the coal business during Musharraf’s era. These include Sikandar Jatoi, Ali Sher Jatoi, and Haji Qudoos Rajar, the family of Shaheed Fazil Rahu, the family of Minister Imtiaz Sheikh, and the Fatah Group. They now earn millions from coal, but their staff mostly comes from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The few local jobs—like watchmen or basic labor earning Rs.5000—are given only on recommendations from Kotri or Sehwan landlords.

Due to coal excavation, local life has completely changed—villages have disappeared, pastures are gone, and the fertile lands that once produced crops after rain have been destroyed. People used to say this land could grow even a man—now it grows nothing.

The natural environment is ruined, and the species of birds, goats, and other animals have vanished. People have migrated away. Lands are replaced by 280-foot-deep coal tunnels, and local landowners are now jobless and desperate.

To get even the harshest labor job with a shovel, locals need political references. Without support from powerful landlords, they are beggars in front of the powerful.

There is no union for local workers. The only union is run by Gul Pukhtoon, where only Pakhtuns are members. They receive housing, bonuses, insurance, and medical support. When non-local workers die in accidents, their families are compensated, employed, given scholarships and training. Locals get nothing.

Illegal weapons and drugs are thriving. You can buy Russian or Chinese Kalashnikovs and even Mouser pistols from Pakhtuns easily. There are many religious seminaries (madrasas) too.

Initially, only Pakhtuns worked inside coal mine tunnels. But now even locals risk their lives in these tunnels due to hunger and unemployment—but only those with political contacts get these jobs.

A few powerful local families have gained wealth, owning double-cabin vehicles and Land Cruisers, and controlling local police stations. In return for their favors, they help suppress the locals.

There are illegal checkpoints, and bribery under police protection is rampant. There are no roads, no hospitals, no schools—just a grand Indus Coal Police Station, more like a mafia den, fully funded by mine owners. The police arrest labor activists and intimidate locals.

To imprison a local worker, all it takes is a false claim of extortion. Months pass before anyone sees them again.

Due to lack of roads, media access is minimal. Local journalists, influenced by small favors and police ties, don’t cover labor protests. Most areas lack internet, so these labor voices don’t reach social media either.

Occasionally, you’ll find Facebook posts accusing journalists of taking bribes, but they soon disappear from the walls of those same journalists.

According to Pakistan’s Constitution, under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), coal companies were obligated to provide basic life facilities in the area, but nothing has been done.

Thousands of locals have been displaced from ancestral lands, yet neither federal nor Sindh governments have taken steps to resettle them.

CSR dictates that 25% of coal profits should be spent on local development—roads, employment, education, health—but since 1976, this money has lined the pockets of MNAs, MPAs, and Deputy Commissioners. Their wealth and influence have grown, while locals live below the poverty line.

They have no livestock left, and their rain-fed lands are gone.

These people, crushed by poverty and political slavery, live in constant fear. They lack educated youth or political activists to lead them out of oppression. They are completely neglected.

Today, the people of Lakhra live a life of extreme suffering.

They urgently need multifaceted help, but government departments, elected officials, and bureaucracy have turned their backs on them.

In truth, these people are like those pushed to the wall, with no one to claim them.

Lacking education and political awareness, they can no longer distinguish between friends and enemies.

These innocent, poor people are unaware of the blessings of the modern 21st century. And perhaps, this very ignorance is the biggest reason for their destruction.

Read: 285 companies operating in Coalmine Sector of Sindh

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AI-augmented translation, edited by Nasir Aijaz

The post Lakhra Coal Mines Devastate Local Lives first appeared on Sindh Courier.

Karachi: Nine years have passed to the fire at Ali Enterprises factory in Baldia Town Karachi but the real culprits are still at large, the bereaved families and workers lamented during a memorial on Saturday the September 11, 2021 held to observe the anniversary of the worst industrial mishap in the history of Pakistan in which 260 workers had lost their lives.

The memorial gathering was organized jointly by National Trade Union Federation (NTUF), Ali Enterprises Factory Fire Affectees Association and Home-based Women Workers Federation (HBWWF), led by Saeeda Khatoon.

The speakers said that as there had been no proper safety arrangements at the Ali Enterprises, 260 innocent workers burned alive and more than 100 others got injured. To give this incident the color of terrorism, some vested interests tried to hide the widespread lawlessness and anti-workers atmosphere in our factories and workplaces but these matters could not be swept under carpet.

They said the incidents like Baldia and Mehran Town factory fires and mishaps in Lakhra and Balochistan coalmines show that the murder of workers in industrial mishaps could only be stopped when the negligent factory owners, officers of labor and building control authority and fire brigade and social security departments are taken to the task. They said that the incident of the Baldia factory fire would continue to remind the law enforcing officials and elected representatives of political parties to dole out justice to the bereaved families.

The speakers said that it was sad that the owners of the Baldia factory were termed innocent and moreover the German courts also failed to make accountable the German brand. They said today it could be said that the ILO conventions, GSP-plus agreement with European Union, accords with international brands and other voluntarily agreements have failed to give protection to the workers. They said that it has become necessary that such international laws should be enacted that make bound the international companies, brands and governments to ensure safety at workplaces.

They said in this regard recent lawmaking in Germany and an international accord are the good omens. They said that in this 21st century the Pakistani workers are still demanding the rights that were given to the workers in the 19th century by the imperialists’ rulers under their colonial system. During last 70 years the number of labor unions in Pakistan has decreased from 30percent to just one percent. The labor inspection department has been put on the back burner. Less than 5percent factories pay their workers the minimum wages as announced by the government. The same situation is seen in the areas of pension and social security.

They reminded that the government of Sindh had announced to observe the day of September 11, as the health and safety day, but since last two years this day is simply not being observed. The same government in 2017 had passed a Sindh workers safety and health Act, but it is yet to be implemented.

They said that the heirs of the martyrs of Baldia factory are still running from the pillar to post to get justice. Despite the clear instructions of the Sindh High Court, the EOBI has stopped the pension of the parents of the heirs without any prior information and due to this, these ages people are facing many hardships. At least 13 of them have already died due financial and medical problems.

They added that it is heartening that the labor organizations of Pakistan in their countrywide meeting have decided to wage a struggle from a joint platform for safeguarding the rights of workers and today they are present in this gathering to express solidarity. They said as a result of the struggle of the international workers movement, they have agreed upon an international accord in which the Brands and Companies are made bound to give workers their rights including the right of making labor unions, and ensure safety and health standards at workplaces.

They further said that it is heartening that under this accord a proper monitoring system is made its part to check the violations and it would benefit the affected workers. They said that we will try that this accord is also implemented in Pakistan in its letter and spirit.

On the occasion of the ninth anniversary of the Baldia factory fire incident, they speakers demanded that:

1. A high-level judicial commission should be established to start a probe afresh into the Baldia factory fire incident so that the responsibility could be fixed and solid steps be taken to stop the blatant violation of laws in industrial sector.
2. The stopped EOBI pension to the parents of the martyred workers of Baldia factory fire should be restored.
3. The stopped Sessi pension the widows, who have remarried, should be restored.
4. A compensation of Rs2.5million each should be immediately paid to the heirs of Mehran Town factory fire, besides giving them pension.
5. Strict implementation of Sindh workers safety and health Act should be ensured and such laws should also be passed in the other provinces.
6. Factory inspection system should be revamped and annual inspection of every factory should be ensured.
7. A monument should be erected in the memory of the martyrs of Baldia factory fire.
8. The government of Sindh should provide the promised jobs and residential plots to the heirs of the martyred workers.
9. A Pakistan Accord on the pattern of Bangladesh Accord should be inked to improve working conditions and working hours in Pakistani factories.
10. The system of labor inspection should be modernized so that strict steps could be taken to ensure safety of workers in factories and workplaces.
11. We demand from the elected representatives of Pakistan to raise voice against sacking of 16000 government employees due to a court decision and come with a joint strategy in Parliament so that the sacked employees could be restored and their families saved from an economic murder.

Those who spoke included Nasir Mansoor general secretary NTUF, Rafiq Baloch president NTUF, Zehra Khan general secretary HBWWF, Karamat Ali convenor National Labor Council, Habibuddin Junaidi president Peoples Labor Bureau, Comrade Gul Rehman of Workers Rights Movement, Saira Bano general secretary United Home-based Women Garment Workers Union, Aqib Hussain president Youth Committee, Khan Zaman of Balochistan Labor Federation, Qazi Khizar, Vice Chairperson HRCP, Niaz Khan of Progressive Labor Federation, Mian Qayoon of Labour Qaumi Movement, Taufiq Ahmed, Ali Ashraf Naqvi, former OSH inspector and joint director, Comrade Jannat and other and others.

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Sindh Courier

The post Baldia Factory Fire: Culprits still at large after 9-years first appeared on Sindh Courier.