[:en]BY ASIM SHAHZAD
LAHORE: Hundreds of workers join in a rally to protest captive coal use and expansion in Pakistan.
As part of the Global Day of Action against Coal, Pakistan Labour Qaumi Movement and Pakistan Kissan Rabita committee organized a protest rally in Faisalabad’s Aman Ghar.
Addressing the rally the Chairman of Pakistan Labour Qaumi Movement, Baba Latif said: “Pollution in our cities has been a major source of health crisis due to which workers and laborers are affected daily. We demand that all industrial use of coal and other fossil fuels must be stopped as our neighborhoods and cities are gradually becoming unlivable. In winters Faisalabad turns into a gas chamber because of smog. It is an industrial city and environmental regulation here is non-existent.
Baba Latif said Pakistan has recently hinted going back to domestic coal to meet its energy needs.
Experts believe that lignite-coal in Pakistan is substandard and can result in environmental degradation if used in power plants to meet energy needs.
Aslam Mairaj another labour leader said that “Workers in Faisalabad are paying the price of environmental pollution resulting from unregulated working conditions in factories. Many factories do not subscribe to the minimum environmental regulations and are responsible for health hazards of employees. We need serious efforts to make industrial working conditions friendly to those who work there.”
“The phase out of coal in Pakistan must happen fast, fair and it must be funded globally. It must include providing alternative decent jobs, livelihoods, and homes for workers and communities on the frontlines of the climate crisis,” said Farooq Tariq, the General Secretary of Pakistan Kissan Rabita Committee.
More than ten thousand people joined demonstrations across Asia to demand the rapid phase out of coal, kicking off a week of climate marches happening around the world explicitly calling for an end to fossil fuels worldwide and the delivery of climate finance obligations by developed countries ahead of the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York and the COP29 Summit in November. Hundreds of climate marches and actions are planned between September 13-20 around the world.
Over 100 coordinated mass actions took place in 72 cities and provinces in the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and India.[:]