KARACHI: Not a sound could
be heard other than waves crashing on the beach through the spaces between the
decommissioned vessels moored at the Gadani Shipbreaking Yard for dismantling
and the sound of cranes dropping heavy metal sheets to the ground. The wind
blew fiercely, causing the keffiyeh that was around the head and face of Gul
Rehman alias Chacha, a veteran welder, to slip and fall to the ground. He bent
down to retrieve the item but it blew ahead, his co-workers laughing as he gave
chase.
Amid the workers’ growing
cheers for Chacha, a metallic grey Suzuki Mehran honked from behind him. He
glanced behind with distaste. Just as he was about to hurl profanity at the
driver, he stopped and instead yelled something in Balochi, making both the men
smile. Chacha resumed his chase of the keffiyeh while the driver lit a
cigarette from a pack of Dunhill Lights before stepping out of the vehicle.
The man had a lean figure of
five foot and 10 inches. He wore a white-coloured shalwar kameez and black
Peshawari sandals. Shading his eyes were a pair of wayfarer sunglasses.
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As he walked towards the
cheering workers, the wind caused his suit mould to his body, revealing that he
was even thinner than he appeared. “Salam,” everyone greeted him respectfully,
nodding at his similar reply.
The man is Bashir
Mehmoodani, president of the Gadani Shipbreaking Yard Workers Union, who, by
his fellows, has been dubbed ‘Shahenshah’, a reference to a character played by
Indian veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan in one of his blockbuster Bollywood
movies. “In the movie, Shahenshah was a friend of the oppressed, so is Bashir,”
revealed Muhammad Boota, a worker hailing from Dera Ghazi Khan.
Word on the beach suggested
that Mehmoodani assumed the responsibility of the state when it blatantly
failed to fulfil it to ensure that at the most dangerous and arguably the
second largest shipbreaking yard in the world, only ships come to die, not men.
“When the workers’ movement at the yard had nearly been crushed, it was Bashir
who rejuvenated it,” lauded Boota.
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Mehmoodani’s story came into
limelight from 2006 when he fought a legal battle with Hubco Power Company over
workers’ issue but lost. For him, there was no chance to go back to the power
plant so he decided to move to another profession. Meanwhile, he remained
active in local politics with the Balochistan National Party – Mengal and
resolved people’s issue. His fame had nearly gripped town and then in 2009, a
man who he knew from before but had never spoken to, asked him for help.
“Tahir Yusufzai, the then
general secretary of the workers union, asked me to lead the movement for
labourers because he was forced into exile from the district by the
authorities,” Mehmoodani told The Express Tribune at his office located off the
road running through the yard. The office is made up of wood from the ships. It
has no electricity due to recurring power outages. Instead, sunlight that
enters the room from a broken window lights it up enough to see faces of the
occupants.
The eight-year-long journey
that Mehmoodani has covered at the shipbreaking yard as a labour leader
narrated an unusual tale of a common man mustering enough courage to cross paths
with the far more powerful and wealthy ship-breakers and even richer
contractors and enough muscle to bring them to the table for negotiations.
“They wouldn’t listen to us as if we, our lives and our families were of no
importance. All they cared for was their profit,” he described, narrating his
encounters with the employers.
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“The police, the labour
department – everyone was on their payroll. They bought even the journalists to
stop the news from Gadani from reaching the outside world. A few years back,
you wouldn’t hear about workers’ deaths at the yard while it was happening due
to lack of safety,” he recalled. “We resisted. We fought with all that we have.
It wasn’t simple. We were arrested and booked in false cases. But we stood
firm.”
Having given a considerable
portion of his life to the workers’ struggle at Gadani, Mehmoodani, who is now
37-years-old, is proud of only one thing, despite the fact that upon close
inspection there are many things for him to be proud of. “I am happy that the
workers who, in the past, would be afraid of their employers sacking them if
they said anything against them, have gained the courage to talk to them eye to
eye,” he said.
On November 1, when 26 workers
were killed and dozens others wounded in an oil tanker blast in Gadani, it was
Mehmoodani who reached the spot before the authorities and guided the workers
through a rescue operation on their own. “Everyone panicked and there was a
reason,” said Chacha. “No one has seen or heard about such a fire at the yard,
which has been working for more than four decades. It was Bashir who organised
them and acted like a general in a time of war.”
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Almost all the victims of
the oil tanker fire have been given compensation – Rs1.5 million to each worker
killed – by the employers. This is the first time that relief has been given in
a relatively short period of time, unlike previous claims that still remain
pending either with the employers or with the government. “In this world, it
never goes the way you expect it to. You cannot fight crocodiles in a pond
overcrowded by them unless you know the art of fighting,” said Mehmoodani.
Source:
the express tribune. 01 May 2017
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