To mark the 47th death anniversary of Hyder Bakhsh Jatoi a gathering on Sunday was organised at Hyderabad Press Club by the National Trade Union Federation (NTUF) in collaboration with the Sindh Agriculture General Workers Union (CBA).
It was led by the NTUF Sindh president Gul Rehman. Large numbers of peasants, workers and youth participated in it. During the event, two-minute silence was observed in the remembrance of the workers killed in Balochistan recently. Speakers at the gathering said that the end to feudalism, capitalist exploitation and religious intolerance lays in following the footsteps of Comrade Hyder Bakhsh Jatoi and completing his mission. The implementation on his revolutionary thoughts can put Sindh on the path of progress and ensure its well being. The feudals have always been the tools of the anti-Sindh forces while Hyder Jatoi was the real representative of the province and his struggle have shown the peasants, workers and other oppressed segments of the society the light of freedom at the end of the tunnel. They stated that his teachings have stirred up a movement for rights and against exploitation of the people in the province.
Shedding light on the life of Jatoi, speakers said that he hailed from a middle class background and was a deputy collector with a government institution. He, however, upon witnessing the exploitation of the working class at the hands of the feudals, capitalists and their puppet government raised his voice and announced a struggle against these injustices. He then dedicated his life to that cause.
They said that he connected the peasants' struggle with the progressive movement and with his ideology and campaigning defeated the attack on the integrity of the province by the Center. That's why he is revered as Baba-e-Sindh. Despite facing unfriendly circumstances, he gave a tough time to the feudals and forced the government to pass the tenancy act to give peasants their due rights. The formation of Sindh Industrial Relation Act, 2013 is the continuity of his struggle. The law entitles the peasants and other agriculture workers to get registered with social security institutions and pension funds. However, due to the apathy of the government and politicians, it is not implemented even after the passage of four years of its enactment. This raises skepticism that why millions of peasants have been kept deprived of their rights.
The speakers commented that today the situation in Sindh has worsened more than it was in the era of Hyder Jatoi. The fang of religious intolerance has been injected throughout the province and the working class is the most vulnerable to its dangers. Millions of peasants have been forced to spend their lives in appalling conditions. They have been deprived of basic rights of safe drinking water, power and other utilities.
The speakers demanded that the feudalism must end, lands should be distributed free among peasants, the seats for peasants in the legislative houses should be allocated in accordance with their population ratio, the families of workers killed in Balochistan should be compensated with Rs three million each, health safety and security of workers should be ensured at workplaces, a chapter on the life and struggle of Hyder Jatoi should be made part of the curriculum and his birthday should be made a public holiday, Tando Jam agriculture university should be named after him, implementation on SIRA, 2013 should be ensured, peasants courts should be established across the province and just water distribution should be ensured, the religious intolerance must be countered and injustice to Hindus and other non-Muslims must stop.
Those who spoke on the occasion included Rehman, Behram Shah, Deputy General Secretary NTUF Nasir Mansoor, President Ali Ahmed Panhwar, General Secretary Lal Bakhsh Lalan, Mushtaq Ali Shan, Subhagi Bhel of SAGWU, General Secretary Zehra Khan and Shakila Khan of Home Based Women Workers Federation.