Skip to main content

International Day for Labor –Pakistani Style

By

Offices all over the country were abuzz with happy anticipation on the eve of First May,International Day for Labor. Smiles plastered all over,everyone looked forward to a day of utter relaxation and content at home. For what else does Labor Day mean to us except a midweek free holiday?
Yours truly was of one of those highly chirpy and excited individuals relishing the thought of a full day off right after ubiquitously hated Monday. Slept till late,woke up to the sound of my servant sweeping my room:
‘aap aaj kaam pe nahin gaaein?’ (Why didn’t you go to work today?) She enquired.
It was a holiday I explained flippantly,to which the further enquiry of what kind of holiday left me scrambling for words. How could I explain to this women that it was Labor Day,an international day off for honoring people of the world who engage in manual labor,and everyone in Pakistan got the day off except for the um… laborer.
In a country where the daily wage worker earns just enough to be able to provide sustenance for a day,a national holiday for all isn’t going to be much of a reason for him to rejoice. To sit back and bask in the ‘honor’ being heaped on him by blue/white collar workers on this day will mean another day of gnawing hunger pangs and no medicine for the old sick mother.
This year Labor Unions in Lahore flanked by the effervescent leftists carried out rallies demanding higher wages,pension,etc. This happens every year. Sometimes the government announces an increase in the minimum wage limit (followed by no one in Pakistan may I add),sometimes like this year it sits in the sidelines and claps politely at the processions of union represented laborers.
Yet the majority of laborers in Pakistan are not even affiliated with unions. The unregistered majority that sits on the roadsides waiting for someone to hire them for work whatever it may be,can’t afford to take a day off when there are families to feed especially since they are unaware of the existence of such a day to begin with.
Let’s please not make a mockery out of the idea behind this day that serves to empathize with the laborer who toils all day in the sun. He is uneducated,doesn’t have resources for a placement,or has extraneous damning circumstances that won’t allow him to take on a permanent job;at least he’s not sitting on the roadside having maimed himself and his children begging for money. He works. And this contribution must be honored,not made a fool of.
By Sarah Eleazar
    Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the SPY EYES Analysis and or its affiliates. The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). SPY EYES Analysis and or its affiliates will not be responsible or liable for any inaccurate or incorrect statements and or information contained in this article.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pakistan can never be Madina E Saani

By
By Nadeem Sajjad. Pakistan is a land loved by many and lived in by millions. It has been witnessed in the past --and somewhat in the present age – that the origin of the name (word) “Pakistan” has had many different accounts of its creators/inventors. Known to be the most accurate of all accounts, is the one of the much respected Chaudhry Rehmat Ali. Others have the concept that the word “Pakistan” was given to the Muslims of India, after the success of Lahore resolution in 1940, by the Hindus of the subcontinent and was then used by Quaid e Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his presidential address to the All India Muslim League annual session at Delhi on 24 April 1943. Whatever may be the origin, the Muslims got their own land to practice their religion Islam, and to maintain their traditions. The thing that should be emphasized upon is that the country was created in the name of Islam.  Knowing the origin is one thing, but naming the country or the name itself to something els...
2 comments
Read more

What about Israel’s nuclear weapons?

By
By   Patrick B. Pexton Readers periodically ask me some variation on this question: “Why does the press follow every jot and tittle of Iran’s nuclear program, but we never see any stories about Israel’s nuclear weapons capability?” It’s a fair question. Going back 10 years into Post archives, I could not find any in-depth reporting on Israeli nuclear capabilities, although national security writer  Walter Pincus  has touched on it  many times in his articles and  columns . I spoke with several experts in the nuclear and nonproliferation fields , and they say that the lack of reporting on Israel’s nuclear weapons is real — and frustrating. There are some obvious reasons for this, and others that are not so obvious. First, Israel refuses to acknowledge publicly that it has nuclear weapons. The U.S. government also officially does not acknowledge the existence of such a program. Israel’s official position, as reiterated by Aaron Sagui, spokesman fo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Muslim Pages on Facebook | What Happened To You ???

By
I was prompted to highlight this issue because people were going crazy on the social media specially facebook over the blasphemous anti-Islamic film.  Yes, the film is blasphemous and the makers of the film should be punished because there is a clear difference between freedom of speech and hate speech. But the thing that I am going to highlight is the pictures that are being spread all over the facebook, for example have a look at this one: Translates : Hitler writes in his book My Struggle that "If I had wanted I could have killed all the jews of the world but I left a few for the world to know why I killed them" Now, the book My Struggle was published in 1924 and the Holocaust happened in 1930, how could Adolf Hitler wrote about Holocaust six years prior to its happening ? Take a look at this picture:  Does the maker of this photo even know that it was Hitler's holocaust that led the zionists accelerate their activities in getting a homeland ? N...
3 comments
Read more