Speakers here in a seminar on child labour urged the government for taking measures to curb the menace of child labour from the country and province. The seminar was organised under the auspices of Provincial Child Labour Unit (PCLU) of the Directorate of Labour, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in collaboration with International Labour Organisation (ILO) here in Peshawar Press Club (PPC) on Wednesday.
The function was organised in connections with Word Day Against Child Labour. The seminar besides, the representatives of the leaders of trade unions was also addressed by Mohammad Iqbal, Tila Mohammad, Razam Khan of National Labour Federation, Zahoor Khan and a psychologist, Dr Samia Gul while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Labour, Sher Azam Khan Wazir was chief guest on the occasion.
Addressing the seminar, Mohammad Iqbal of National Labour Federation called for legislation to curb the menace and imposing of ban on any form of child labour during the school timing of children. He said that the country is facing a class-based war, saying the rulers are not interested in provision of education facilities to the children of poor.
He welcomed the establishment of the Provincial Child Labour Unit (PCLU) as a good omen and said that the elimination of the child labour is the responsibility of all. He also called for creation of awareness amongst common men. Tila Mohammad, another labour leader said that the problem of child labour is due to the lack of awareness and demanded initiating of sincere measures for its abolition. He was optimistic that the establishment of child complaint cell bring improvement in this regard. He said that beside government and NGOs all stakeholders are required to wage a joint struggle in this regard.
Speaking on the occasion, the chief guest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Labour, Sher Azam Khan Wazir said that the PPP governments from its founding chairman, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto to present Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani have taken numerous measures for the welfare of labourers and children.
The provincial minister said that both labour and child labour are interlinked. He said that decline in unemployment will directly arrest poverty and the menace of child labour would be abolished automatically. He also termed child labour as the problem of only poor countries, saying that employed people earning livelihood for their families never sent their children for labour. He said that in this connection, the record of the PPP led governments is very clear and had always taken initiatives for the welfare of workers and children.
The provincial minister said that the present government had inherited a lot of problems and their resolution will ultimately take some time. He said that after assuming the responsibility as Prime Minister, the first two directives issued by Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani were the restoration of the judiciary and increase in minimum wage of workers. He said that before the PPP government the minimum wage of a worker was Rs 4,600, which was first increased to Rs 6000 and now it had fixed at Rs 8000 per month.
He said that Worker Welfare Board (WWB) was established during the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, which is now spending Rs 15,000 on one child of worker and pay scholarship of Rs 0.1 million to those children of workers, which are doing their post-graduate studies. He said that the purpose of all poor-friendly policies is the arresting of poverty and bringing improvement in the lives of labourers.
Sher Azam Wazir said that the government is creating maximum employment opportunities for the people and all those government employees sacked during Nawaz Sharif government have been reinstated. He said that PPP is the political party of poor and working class and its leadership does not believe in escaping in the darkness of the night. Criticising the leadership of PML-N, he said that they have done nothing for the welfare of the people and now they are out to derail democratic process. However, he said that PPP will continue its march to take country towards progress and development.
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