Farewell party for members of recently dissolved Sindh Assembly

KARACHI: An impressive farewell party for the members of recently dissolved Sindh Public was arranged in recognition to their contribution towards adoption of series of workers' friendly legislation.

Senior labour leader, Karamat Ali along with known trade unionist Habibuddin Junaidi, economist Ume Laila Azhar, women rights activist Mahnaz Rehman and a woman worker Kasuar Begum particularly felicitated the politicians for legislating the much warranted Home Based Workers Act 2018.

Ume Laila, also the Executive Director of HomeNet Pakistan speaking on the occasion cited the legislation as a historical achievement for the country in general.

Mentioning that the law for home based workers (HBWs) had been lying for many years with the provincial labour department and then for vetting with the Law department, for more than a year, she said it was due to political will on part of public representatives as well as all concerned stakeholders that the bill was tabled before the house and unanimously adopted as a full fledged piece of legislation.

Secretary for Labour and Human Resource Department, Abdul Rasheed Solangi attributed the much needed legislation to cohesive effort of home based workers and the civil society.

"The credit definitely goes to HomeNet Pakistan for running almost a decade long campaign and making the dream of a separate law for HBWs come true," he said.

Karamat Ali, the known labour leader appreciated that the law would help HBWs acquire series of benefits as social security, old age support guaranteed under EOBI, health insurance and so-forth

He on the occasion also called for universalization of labour friendly policies encompassing all categories of labourers including domestic workers.

Activist Naheed Syed mentioned that Sindh emerged to the first province to adopt the first ever policy for home based workers in Asia in 2016 and also turned first on 9th May 2018, adopting the landmark legislation titled as Home based workers Act 2018.

Congratulating the HBWs who had come from distant districts as Sukkur, Hyderabad, Khairpur, Thatta, Tando Jam etc to attend the event, she said concerted efforts made by the stakeholders will always be remembered.

Mahnaz Rahman of Aurat Foundation thanked the guests for their long time efforts and struggle in the process of legislation.

"The farewell is a gesture and a nice goodbye to the MPAs who played a role in adopting a series of women, workers and public friendly laws during five years of their term," she said.

Kausar Begum, an HBW from Tando Jam and Mohammad Ali from Sukkur talked about the workers' struggle and efforts throughout this period.