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Trade union leaders in Pakistan have claimed that one of their younger collegues, Iqbal Abro has gone missing from the Korangi Industrial Area and alleged that he was abducted by the local police upon the request of influential industrialists as per local media.
Abro had stood against forced retrenchment at an industrial unit, officials and activists said in a report by the Dawn news outlet. Local police of the Korangi district have, however, denied that they have detained Abro. A protest demonstration was held outside Karachi Press Club. The protest was organised upon the request of the National Trade Union Federation Pakistan (NTUF-P) The participants, including women, carried portraits of Abro, and demanded his release from "illegal custody". Addressing mediapersons on the occasion, trade union leaders Nasir Mehmood, Comrade Gul Rehman and others alleged that Abro was kidnapped by the Awami Colony police, subjected to torture, and later shifted to an unknown location. They referred to it as case of enforced disappearance and alleged that an influential industrialist was involved behind it, as the young activist had been speaking about the rights of the workers who had been retrenched by the industrial unit without justification, Dawn reported. They also said that a petition to this effect had been filed before the Sindh High Court. They urged Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah to secure the release of Abro from the "illegal custody" of the police. The NTUF-P leaders warned that if the activist was not released, they would decide a future course of action at a labour conference scheduled to be held in the site area on Sunday evening. (ANI)
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