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treaties and agreements with international labour bodies such as International
Labour Organisation.
The ban on factory inspections, first put in place in 2003 as a measure to
prevent corruption and promote business, was in effect across the country
until September 2012. It took an industrial disaster in Lahore, claiming the
lives of more than 25 workers, for the province of Punjab to resume factory
inspections. Yet the staff shortage at the Punjab Labour Department
demonstrates how even the resumption of inspections might not be enough to
safeguard workers’ rights or ensure their safety. For all the factories in Lahore,
the capital of the Punjab province and the second most populous city of the
country, only 13 inspectors were available. Only 100 inspectors were expected
to thoroughly inspect all factories in the entire Punjab province. These inspectors
were not even provided official transportation or conveyance allowance. Many
admitted that they had received no formal training on inspections.
Industrialists often did not feel obliged to pay the meagre minimum wage,
nor to invest in providing a safe working environment or social security benefits
to their workers. Of the 58 million workers in Pakistan by official reckoning,
only 2.1 million were registered with the provincial social security departments
by their employers. Under the law, the labourers could not register themselves
for these benefits and could only register their complaints regarding the process.
By using unregistered labourers, the employers not only sought to circumvent
their legal obligation, but also contributed substantially to some of the worst
industrial disasters in 2012.
Workers’ lives were deemed cheap by the state as well as by those ignoring
to invest in their safety and only having an eye on maximising their profits. In
the year under review, Pakistan suffered one of the worst industrial disasters
in its history when a fire in a Karachi garments factory claimed at least 270
lives. The fire also exposed once again the complete neglect of workers’ safety
at the workplace and lack of preparation by government agencies tasked with
fire-fighting and rescue services. Besides hundreds of fatalities in industrial
disasters, workers suffered at the hands of terrorists and extortionists.
Shopkeepers and traders in Karachi continued to face threats from extortionists
who were believed to be affiliated with various political groups. Despite the
fact that those harassed clamoured for justice, the perpetrators were almost
never apprehended. In conflict-hit parts of the country in particular, many
workers paid with their life in attacks that could have been prevented by
affording some degree of protection to them in view of the hazards present in
those areas.
Child Labour remained widespread and enforcement of legislation to protect
children was not a priority.
Labour
Labour market
The poor state of the economy, the energy crisis and the law and order