Veteran leftist trade unionist S P Lodhi died at a local hospital after protracted illness here on Tuesday. S P Lodhi was amongst the founders of trade union movement in Pakistan. Born in Aligarh UP, he migrated to Pakistan and settled in Karachi.
He joined Pakistan Railways, but later he was sacked due to his involvement in the trade union activities. Later he became a full-time trade unionist. He was an expert of labour and industrial laws.
He participated in many tripartite labour conferences in various parts of the country and had several foreign study tours. He represented Pakistani labours in International Labour Organisation (ILO) Geneva.
He was amongst the founders of All Pakistan Trade Union Organisation 25 years back and served as his secretary general till his last day. He was the first labour leader, who was made life member of the Karachi Press Club. He served jail terms several times due to his pro-worker activities.
He left behind a widow, five sons, a daughter and hundreds of thousands worker comrades.
He was laid to rest in North Karachi Graveyard. Thousands of people attended his funeral prayers. Saleem Akhtar, Habibullah Junedi, Bashir Ahmed, Ghulam Sarwar Chandio and Ashraf Rajput laid floral wreaths on his grave on behalf of their organisations.
Labour leaders, including Nabi Ahmed, Kaneez Fatima, Habibullah Junedi, Baseer Naveed, Abdul Aziz Memon, Waqar Haider, Bashir Ahmed, Rafiq Malik, Manzoor Razi, Muhammad Islam, Ghulam Sarwar Chandio, Syeda Nadira Perveen, Muhammad Saeed, Jalil Shah, Makhdoom Ayub, Sharafat Ali, Nasiruddin Mehmood, Farooq Bungash, Shaikh Majeed, Lateef Mughal, Manzoor Badayooni, Shahanshah, Liaquat Sahi, Qamarul Hassan, Saleem Akhtar, Shahid Naqvi, Zar Muhammad, Ghulam Qasim and others participated in the funeral procession.