A meeting was held on the eve of
March 8, International Working Women's Day, at the Lahore Press Club. The
meeting was jointly organized by the Pakistan Trade Union Defense Campaign
(PTUDC) and the Bonded Labour Liberation Front (BLLF). A large number of
working women and laborers participated in the meeting.
Chaudhary Manzoor Ahmed, Member of National Assembly and President of the PTUDC was the main speaker and workers' rights activist, Ghulam Fatima, of the BLLF chaired the meeting.
The speakers highlighted the problems of women in society. They explained that the basic problem facing women is economic, and that family relations are the base of these economic problems. In rural areas, the work of women is never acknowledged and she is never given her wage. Women working in offices, factories, hospitals and kilns face sexual, mental and emotional harassment. It was explained by the speakers that only a socialist revolution could solve the problems of women.
The main speaker, Chauhadary Manzoor
Ahmed, said that despite being giving representation in the Assembly, no change
could be seen over last four years in the situation of women in Pakistan. The
women in the Assembly are simply working on the capitalist agendas of their
respective parties. In general it seems that these women reach parliament
through the political maneuvering of their male relatives. Not a single working
woman is present in the Assembly and no one has raised their voice for these
working women. Instead, the average working day for women has increased from 8
to 12 hours. He explained that the Protection of Women Bill passed by the
National Assemby was a farce, and that it could not solve any of the problems
currently facing women.
Manzoor pointed out that the irony of the present system is that the people who make bricks with their hands are forced to live in tents with no protection from the weather, those making shoes have none to wear and those building hospitals and schools have no access to education and healthcare.
The fundamentalists argue that
women should wear a veil, but what they don't explain is how a woman working a
kiln in the hot summer, or how a woman working in the fields in the summer heat
can wear a veil in these conditions. Manzoor explained said the argument of t
he fundamentalists is not practical for working women.
Manzoor also argued against the feminists and others working for women rights through parliamentary reforms and constitutional amendments. The present system exists to protect the interests of the capitalist class, and in general all laws and regulations are carried out for this purpose. Unless the whole system is changed, no improvement in the situation of women will be possible. What this comes down to is the fact neither feminists nor fundamentalists have a solution for the misery of women. Only a socialist revolution will be able to guarantee the rights of women.
Manzoor related a story about a woman who hanged herself in her home from a ceiling fan when she was unable to feed her children for two days. In another incident in Lahore, a young man killed his mother and then himself when he could not afford medical treatment for his old mother. These miserable incidents truly reveal the suffering of the impoverished and downtrodden of Pakistan. Eventually, this situation will explode and a workers' movement will be launched that can lead the socialist revolution.
Mehar Safdar Ali, director of the BLLF, highlighted the plight of women workers working in the kilns and fields, explaining how they are brutally exploited. Not only are they forced to work under miserable conditions, but they also face physically violence, torture, and rape at the hands of the owners.
Adam Pal of the Unemployed Youth Movement (BNT) and Hina Zain of the PTUDC also spoke and explained that if working men and women unite against this brutal system they can free themselves from the yoke of capitalism. The emancipation of women from exploitation is linked to the emancipation of humanity from the rule of capital.
Several others, including Baji Naseem Shamim Malik, Altaf Baloch the President of the United Labor Federation and Muhammad Akbar also spoke at the meeting.
Ghulam Fatima presented the
demands and program of the meeting on behalf of the PTUDC and the BLLF. The two
groups have decided to struggle jointly for the socialist revolution, for the
emancipation of women and of the whole of humanity.
A resolution was also passed against the state repression against workers and youth in Rawlakot (Pakistani-held Kashmir) and for the immediately release of Amjad Shahswar and other activists from police custody.
In the end Struggle Awards were given away to those people who have stood in the ranks of the women's resistance movement against state repression. These people actively took part and supported the women's movement on April 18, 19, and 20. Awards were given to the following people:
Chaudhary Manzoor Ahmed
Munno Bhai
Naveed uz Zaman
Rohi Imran
Parveen Gulzar
Zohra Bibi
Baji Naseem Shamim Malik
Altaf Balouch
Wadood Mushtaq
Ahmed Raza Kharal
Mehar Safdar Ali
Neik Muhammad, Advocate