Spinners end strike after assurance of lifting curbs

Punjab Governor Salman Taseer talking to the media after a meeting with representatives of the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association in Lahore. - APP photo

LAHORE: Spinners on Thursday called off plans for further protests against quantitative restrictions on yarn exports after Punjab Governor Salman Taseer assured them that the curbs on the yarn trade would be lifted in less than one week.

The governor flew here from Islamabad to talk to the protesting spinners on the instructions of President Asif Zardari and assured them that the federal government was to trying to find a way out of the crisis.

He reportedly told them that quota curbs on yarn export would be lifted and exporters of value-added textiles would be compensated by the government from it own pocket to make yarn affordable to them.

Aptma-Punjab chairman Gohar Ejaz assured the governor that the spinners were prepared to give the government two weeks to work out a formula. The governor, however, assured that the matter would be resolved in 48 hours,” an Aptma official, who did not want to give his name, said.

Aptma officials told reporters that 99 per cent spinners had shut down their factories for eight hours earlier in the day to express their disgust over the textile ministry’s biased attitude towards the spinning industry and curbing yarn exports.

Aptma had arranged media visits to different areas around Lahore with clusters of spinning mills to show the impact of the strike.

The value-added textile exporters were demanding capping of yarn exports because its high domestic prices were hurting their viability. They also complained of yarn shortages in the country. But the spinners rejected their argument, saying yarn prices had been raised because of sharp increase in raw cotton prices.

Gohar said the survival of the local spinning industry was linked with the viability of domestic value-added sector, but it was wrong to expect the yarn producers to subsidise the ancillary sector. “If any industry needs to be subsidised it should be done by the government from its own pocket,” he said.

KARACHI: Chairman Aptma Sindh Balochistan zone Yasim Siddik said that about 361 spinning units throughout the country observed total closure to mark their protest against quota restriction on cotton yarn exports.

The zonal Aptma took media teams around various industrial estates, including Nooriabad and Kotri. In Karachi spinning units located in Landhi, Korangi and Site industrial areas were also visited by media teams.

Leaders belonging to spinning industry also addressed media in Nooriabad and Kotri with workers of closed units holding protest banners seeking level- playing field and raised slogan against discriminatory attitude of the textile ministry.

Winding up the visits vice-chairman (central) Aptma Shezad Ahmed addressed the media at the Karachi Press Club. He reiterated that free market mechanism should not be disturbed and there should be no interference of any sort from the government side in textile trade.

Yasin Siddik told Dawn that never in the history of textile such a successful strike had been observed. He termed the large scale closure of industrial units a sorry state of affair and said that the matter could had been resolved amicably without creating such an ugly situation.

Mr Siddik said that an estimated production loss of yarn of one single day stands at around 8,000 tons with an estimated cost of Rs816 million, which also causes revenue loss to the country and in case of exports it also results in foreign exchange loss.

FAISALABAD: Most of the spinning units in Khurrianwala Industrial Estate did not observe strike in respond to the call given by Aptma and continued their businesses on Thursday.

However, the owners displayed banners at the entrance factory gates inscribed with words of strike against the restriction imposed by the government on export of yarn.

A protest camp was set up outside the JK Spinning Mills by the Aptma where handful of spinners was present to register their protest.

Only two to three factories observed strike from 9:00am to 5:00pm and prevented their workers to join duty.

Meanwhile, addressing a press conference the Pakistan Hosiery Manufacturers Association chairman Naeem Ahmed termed the Aptma strike call an act of blackmailing the government.

He said they would go on strike if the government uncaps the yarn export.

SWABI: Muqaddam Khan reports from Swabi that textile mills of Gadoon Amazai Industrial Estate (GAIE) observed a complete strike and staged protest demonstration against the imposition of quota on export of yarn.

Aptma’s NWFP chairman Afaan Aziz also participated in the protest demonstration. All the textile units at Gadoon Estate were remained close and the workers participated in the protest demonstration.

KOHAT: Abdul Sami Paracha reports from Kohat that the workers of local textile industry started 3–hour daily strike against the quota imposed by the government on export of yarn in Kohat on Thursday.

The workers announced to observe three hours strike till March 21, to register their grievances and force the government to take back its decision.

Source:http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/business/13+spinners-end-strike-after-assurance-of-lifting-curbs-930-za-01