On 25th January the executive body of the Unemployed Youth Movement (BNT) of Sindh province was announced in a press conference held in the Hyderabad Press Club. Also a protest against unemployment was held before the press conference outside the Press Club in which unemployed youth participated in big numbers.
Protesting youth were holding placards with slogans such as "Employment is our right, not a charity", "Give us Employment or Unemployment allowance".
The protest was led by the Secretary General of the BNT Zafar Imam, the President of the BNT in Sindh, Ejaz Bhagio, the Sindh Vice President Khalid Rafiq, the General Secretary of the BNT Sindh Hanif Musrani, the Sindh Joint Secretary Saeed Khaskheli, the Sindh Finance Secretary Sarfraz Chilgri and the Sindh Information Secretary Rasid Leghari.
Speaking at the occasion the General Secretary of the BNT Zafar Imam said that the present government has not yet delivered any of its promises of giving employment to the youth. A number of youth are committing suicides due to unemployment. In the year 2008 alone 3000 youth committed suicide.
Ejaz Bhagio the President of the Sindh BNT said that the youth has now become aware of the tricks of the government and are organizing to get their rights and for the socialist transformation of society. Hanif Musrani, Sindh BNT General Secretary, said that the youth has no option left now but to struggle for their rights and overthrow this brutal system of exploitation and misery.
After the protest a press conference was held in which journalists asked many questions to the newly elected body of the Sindh BNT. The executive body of the Sindh BNT explained to the audience that the number of unemployed youth is increasing every day and the policies of government are destroying employment instead of providing it. They said that the privatization policy is playing havoc on those who are already employed, while the public assets of the country are being sold to profit-thirsty capitalists who are exploiting the workers to the full.
They said that the newly elected body of the Sindh BNT will organize unemployed youth in all the districts of Sindh and will raise the voice of revolutionary socialism to wage a struggle to end this rotten capitalist system.
The Dawn newspaper on January 27, 2009 reported about the press conference:
Jobless youths seek jobs or unemployment allowance
HYDERABAD, Jan 26: The Berozgar Noujawan Tehrik has urged the government either to provide jobs to the jobless youth or give them unemployment allowance equal to the price of half a tola of gold.
The leaders of the organisation Aijaz Bughio, Khalid Rafique and Hanif Misrani said at a news conference here on Sunday that the jobless youth had a right over state earnings and warned the government to stop giving them lollypop in the shape of contract employment and announce a permanent employment policy.
They said that the state was legally bound to provide jobs to its citizens but all doors of employment had been closed to the unemployed for 15 years.
They said that the Pakistan People’s Party had made tall claims before coming into power that the party would provide jobs to the jobless but it had failed to fulfil even one promise.
Instead, the government had created more problems in the shape of price hike and increased number of joblessness, they said and added that they had been left with only two options: commit suicide or launch a joint struggle for their legal rights.
They said that the Tehrik was organising all unemployed youth of the country in two years and claimed that 38.4 million youth were jobless out of whom 14.5 million were educated. Every year, one million youth were added to the figures, they added.
Growing disappointment had driven a large number of jobless youth to crimes and drugs and many others were committing suicide, they said.
The state itself was responsible for creating such a situation, they said.
The government was collecting Rs1,551 billion annual tax, excluding income from the ports, oil and gas, which amounted to Rs428 billion, therefore, the jobless youth had a right over state earnings, they said.
They demanded that all the jobless should be registered with the employment exchange, class system in education should be abolished, free education should be given up to university level, working hours in the factories should be reduced from 48 to 35 hours a week to generate more jobs, closed factories should be reopened and privatisation of national assets should be stopped immediately.
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Source: Dawn