[asia-apec 355] Appeal From Pakistani Postal Workers

[alarm]

URGENT APPEAL FROM PAKISTANI POSTAL WORKERS

Dear comrades,

It is not the first time that the Postal bureaucracy has attacked the
employees. 
The History of the postal administration is full of such state attacks
against
the labour and employees of the postal organisation of Pakistan. Neither
this is
the first attack against Mr Abdul Maroof Azad for his uncompromising and
relentless class struggle as Secretary General of All Pakistan
Postmaster
General Employees Union (CBA) of Balochistan province and Central
Chairman of
the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. The Postal administration had
previously registered five false cases in the labour courts which are
still
under trial. However this time the postal administration instead of
going to
courts directly, conspired with the police to force Mr Abdul Maroof Azad
to
submit to the will of the Postal bureaucracy and not to fight against
their
corruption and illegal activities.

It is worth mentioning that this time the postal administration made the
stealing of an old motorcycle, which was officially under the custody of
Mr
Abdul Maroof Azad, the pretext for initiating a criminal case against
him. The
motorcycle had been stolen one year before and the report for this was
registered in the concerned police station and the postal administration
was
also informed accordingly. However during all this period no efforts
were made
by the police and the postal administration took no departmental action
in this
regard. As soon as Mr Abdul Maroof wrote letter s to the postal
administration
to stop their corrupt practices and illegal activities, the Postmaster
general,
instead of initiating inquires in the right direction, registered a
false case
of stealing the motorcycle against Mr Abdul Maroof Azad. The police is
harassing
Mr Abdul Maroof Azad and the members of his family.

The employees of postal organisation of Balochistan are bravely fighting
the
vindictive and repressive policies of the postal bureaucracy. We are not
afraid
of these coward activities of the anti-labour forces. Although our enemy
is the
postal bureaucracy which enjoys the support of the armed institutions of
the
state, we have on our side the force of labour. This force will be most
effective only if we organise ourselves, without prejudice to the
regional,
ethnic and religious divisions, against all the anti-labour forces and
bureaucracy at international level. We, believing in the international
solidarity of labour, appeal to all labour organisations of the world to
write
immediately letters of protest to stop the use of state repression and
torture
against all active trade union officer bearers and the use of police
against Mr
Abdul Maroof Azad to the following officials of the Pakistan Postal
Administration:

The Director General
Pakistan Post Office
Islamabad
Pakistan
Fax: + 92 51 851848

The Postmaster General
Balochistan
Quetta
Pakistan
Fax: + 92 81 442193

We hope that labour organisations from around the world will intervene
actively
and support us against injustices and repression and show international
labour
solidarity. Our immediate demands are:

Withdrawal of all charges against Mr Abdul Maroof Azad and stop police
harassment against him

Stop vindictive activities of the Postmaster General, Balochistan,
Quetta

Accept the justified demands of the postal employees

Stop the intervention of the postal administration in the affairs of the
union.

Yours sincerely,

Nasir Ali
General Secretary
National Organisation of Postal Employees (NOPE)
Pakistan (CBA) Balochistan
Quetta Division
Quetta
Tfn: + 92 81 9201399

Copies of solidarity messages can also be emailed c/o
100723.2362 at compuserve.com