Blaze wakes Pakistan to industrial
realities By Syed Fazl-e-Haider
KARACHI - The deaths of 289 people in a
fire at a garments factory on September 11 in
Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi is the
country's worst industrial disaster and biggest
human tragedy in the country's industrial hub.
On the same day, at least 25 people lost
their lives in a similar fire at a shoe-making
factory in Lahore, in Punjab province. The two
fires laid open in brutal fashion the extent of
violations of Pakistan's Factory Act 1934 and the
country's inadequate labor laws, rampant
corruption, and criminal negligence regarding
safety standards and monitoring authorities.
Not least, the incidents expose the racket
of official regulation and inspection under which
the number of illegal industrial units in
Karachi has grown.
Factories with no proper fire-fighting
arrangements and safety equipment and
non-implementation of safety standards have become
killing chambers for workers and money-making
machines for owners who pay kickbacks to corrupt
authorities responsible for monitoring factory
safety.
Karachi, the country's commercial
capital, with a population of 18 million, shut
down in mourning on Thursday in the aftermath of
the factory fire there. The city took on an eerie
silence, with public transport suspended and
factories and markets closed and thin attendance
at offices.
Ali Enterprises garment
factory, where ready-to-wear clothing was
manufactured for export, is in the Baldia town
area of Karachi. A Dawn editorial called the fire
there "the country's worst industrial disaster ...
]to be] seared in memory as the Pakistani worker's
9/11"...
Factories in Pakistan are kingdoms
unto themselves. They are concentration camps
where workers are denied their basic rights
enshrined in the constitution, in the country's
labor laws and in international conventions.
Even a proper appointment letter is more often
than not a favor, and not a rule, and those who
are not employed as per the regulations have no
claim to privileges, not even compensation in
accident cases. Trade unions are a luxury which
can hurt the owners' interests. The government
promises to reinvigorate them but is either too
meek or too overwhelmed by petty profits to even
try and implement the existing law. The presence
of unions could have ensured better working
conditions - more fire exits at least - for
those lost forever in the industrial holes in
Karachi and Lahore.
The victims of the
Karachi disaster were mostly the poor factory
workers including many women employees. Locked
emergency exit doors meant they could not find a
way of escaping the blaze.
The Express
Tribune commented,
In the case of Pakistan, one has to
say - and clear proof of it comes from these two
tragedies - that structures have more or less no
fire safety equipment. The factory in question
had no fire exits and - according to officials
at the scene - windows had grills so workers
couldn't escape. All of this is capped by an
unsettling attitude or mindset, if you will, in
general, where many among us feel that fire
safety issues are things best left for those who
live in developed countries and that if a fire
were to happen in our midst, that would more or
less be part of fate's
plan.
Government authorities and
industry owners have been least concerned about
workers' problems and troubles they face while at
work in factories. A rising unemployment rate,
which has hit 18%, and surging poverty levels
force poor workers to work under miserable
conditions without claiming their rights under the
law.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik has
not ruled out the possibility of an extortionist
mafia hand behind the Karachi factory tragedy.
There have been previous incidents in Karachi of
factories being set on fire after their owners
refused to pay extortion money to gangs.
The country's financial hub is virtually
ruled by land, drug and extortionist mafias. Wary
of these groups, industrialists and businessmen
have been demanding the government call in the
army, as the situation has gone out of the control
of civilian authorities.
The ability of
the economy to emerge from stagflation - high
inflation and low growth - is severely impeded
when industrialists and businessmen, who provide
employment to millions of people, feel their lives
and businesses insecure and vulnerable due to the
deepening trend of lawlessness. At the same time,
costs of doing business are consistently rising
with higher borrowing costs and a worsening energy
shortages. The business community is left with
Hobson's choice - either shut down or shift their
businesses abroad.
In one telling
statistic, exports of apparel from Pakistan in the
last 10 years has increased from US$1.5 billion to
only $3.5 billion, whereas exports from Bangladesh
have surged from $1.5 billion to $12.5 billion.
The growing power crisis is one key reason
prompting industrialists to consider setting up
units in other countries. In view of the
comparatively 35% cheaper electricity and 30%
higher profit margins in Bangladesh, many
industrialists have already moved their factories
their or expanding their existing presence. A mass
exodus of the Pakistan's textile manufacturing
base would render jobless millions more people
currently employed by the sector. Improving the
safety standards and working conditions of the
existing workers would, of course, merely add to
business costs.
Syed
Fazl-e-Haider
(http://www.syedfazlehaider.com) is a
development analyst in Pakistan. He is the author
of many books, including The Economic
Development of Balochistan (2004). He can be
contacted at sfazlehaider05@yahoo.com.
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