HYDERABAD, July 21: The Hyderabad Press Club is the only press club in the country where some of the aggrieved parties have been on huger strike not for weeks or months but for over a year but their grievances have not been resolved.

On average, half a dozen protest demonstrations and hunger strikes are held outside the press club every day but authorities concerned refuse to take any notice. Visiting VIPs and VVIPs also express solidarity with the protesters, get themselves photographed with them for the sake of publicity but later forget their plight.

In fact, the press club has become an Oracle of Delphi where repressed people come to find solutions to their ordeals. One Mannu Bheel has been on hunger strike for 548 days, protesting against the kidnapping of his nine family members by feudal lords of Sanghar. The kidnap victims include Mr Bheel's mother, wife and children.

An FIR of the kidnapping was registered on May 5, 1998, at the Jhuddo police station but till date the family is being held as hostage by the feudal lords who enjoy the support of the "most powerful" man in Sindh.

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has done everything humanly possible to secure release of Mr Bheel's family but all in vain. On the contrary, some of HRCP activists themselves face defamation cases lodged by the land lords.

The Sindh governor had personally taken interest in the matter and directed the former Regional Police Officer to ensure release of the family members but nothing happened. It cannot be said with certainty whether the family of Mr Bheel is alive.

The second case is that of former employees of the Zeal Pak Cement Factory who are demanding payment of their dues. A group of the employees, led by Ikramuddin, have completed 371 days of their hunger strike.

It may be recalled here that under an agreement signed between the then CBA union and the factory's new management, which had taken the charge after its privatization, all workers were sent on retirement under the golden handshake scheme.

Some workers were paid their dues through cheques while others were given residential quarters as quid pro quo for cash. However, cheques of around 250 employees were returned by the bank concerned as there were no funds. The mill management claims that it has given the entire amount to the CBA union, which should be held responsible.

Only recently the district and sessions judge of Hyderabad in his capacity as the director of the Human Rights Board had ordered registration of criminal cases when some widows approached him and police arrested the union's former general-secretary but there is no money which can be paid to the workers. They continue to run from pillar to post for their hard-earned money.

And those who have been given residential quarters have not received necessary documents of ownership. The law is very clear on the point which says that payment to the workers is to be made in cash and not in any other kind.

Recently, the Hyderabad DCO called for the papers to decide the matter but nothing practical has been done. The defunct Sindh Road Transport Corporation's former employees have been on hunger strike for the last 372 days.

According to an agreement, signed between the Sindh government and the CBA union on Dec 6, 1999, the workers were to be paid mark-up on dues if they were not paid the same within one year.

However, the amount could not be paid as per the agreement and the government asked the workers to sign an undertaking that they would not demand mark-up on the dues. The workers signed the undertaking to at least get their original amount, but later they started the hunger strike for payment of the mark-up, claiming that they were forced to sign the undertaking.

Authorities concerned seem least concerned to look into the grievances of the workers or at least hold negotiations with them. Even the press has stopped giving proper space to the perennial hunger strikers.