By Ahsan Mughal
KARACHI: The chairman of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, said on Thursday that in developed societies workers sell their time and skills, but in Pakistan they are often forced to “sell their dignity”, as he addressed a Labor Day gathering in Karachi.
Speaking as chief guest at a ceremony organized by the party’s United Labor Federation at Liaquat Memorial Auditorium, Siddiqui framed his party as an extension of a broader workers’ movement. He argued that Pakistan’s political future lay in a model shaped by such foundations, while urging a renewed alliance between workers and students to challenge what he described as an entrenched feudal order.
Referring to the nationalization policies of 1972, Siddiqui said they had effectively imposed a feudal structure on the middle class under the guise of reform. He added that the system had since become “hollow” and could only be dismantled through collective mobilization. Drawing on historical parallels, he said the events in Chicago more than a century ago had shaken the foundations of global capitalism, suggesting that similar pressures could build again.
The MQM leader also criticized the quota system, calling it divisive and rooted in ethnic separation. He maintained that while Urdu had been accepted as a common language across much of the country, decisions in Sindh had deepened social divisions.
Siddiqui said his party had enabled ordinary citizens to enter parliament and insisted that genuine representation should come from workers and farmers themselves, rather than from traditional elites. He warned that if necessary, workers would take to the streets to secure their rights.
