The NIRC took this step on an application filed by Pakistan Workers Confederation through its secretary general Khurshid Ahmad that the Federal government should fulfil its constitutional, legal and international obligations under ILO convention.
The NIRC heard Khurshid Ahmad in person who submitted that a number of workmen including owner of a factory have been burned to death due to lack of safety measures. This state of affairs is extremely dreadful and tragic requiring immediate action on the part of all concerned, he added. Ahmad said it is the responsibility of the government to ensure implementation of all labour laws through independent labour inspection machinery in accordance with ILO conventions. Though under the 18th Constitutional amendment the responsibility for ensuring due application of law has been devolved upon the provinces yet the Federation cannot be absolved of its legal obligations and more particularly in respect of trans-province industrial units with regard to safety and health, minimum wages, social security and old age benefits etc. He said since the recent tragedies of inferno in a garment factory in Karachi and leather factory in Lahore had exposed unsafe and dangerous working conditions killing hundreds of workers, including women.