On Friday, December 6, 2024, a significant mass meeting was organized by Azadi Tehreek and the Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Party (PMKP) in Dijkot, near Samundri Road, at 258 Laman Pind. The event focused on the complete abolition of forced labor and the enforcement of workers’ wages in all kilns. The meeting saw an impressive turnout, with kiln workers from Faisalabad and surrounding areas including Lahore, Kasur, Mandi Bahauddin, Sheikhupura, and other districts participating in large numbers. Additionally, political and social activists, people’s artists, and students also joined the event.
The program began with the recitation of the Holy Qur'an by Hafiz Saeed, District President of PMKP, followed by a heartfelt presentation of Manzoor Niazi’s famous Naat Kadoon Makke Ge Capitalism Ya Rasool Allah by Ahsaneen Sadiq. Progressive cleric Shaukat led a prayer, after which the participants, under the guidance of Nasreen Majeed Joseph and Tashfeen Majeed, sang the International Workers' Anthem in Punjabi.
Key figures from Azadi Tehreek, including Saeed, Bibi Rani, Khalid, Nadeemullah, Ibtisam, Dildad Sahutra, Pastor Shaukat, Professor Omar Ali, and Asghar Shaheen, alongside labor leaders such as Mian Shahbaz, Abdul Rauf Ansari, Rana Azeem, and Allah Rakha from Faisalabad, Muhammad Ali from Chakku Mor, and Yousuf from Pattoki, addressed the gathering, emphasizing the need for the eradication of bonded labor.
Poetry was an important part of the event, with Bhutta Mazdoor poet Munawar Dewana reciting his poems, and the Pattoki Group, led by Rehmat Ali Shakir, including Amanat Ali, Sindhu Patuwala, Malik Ghulam Hussain, and Muhammad Tufail Raza, performing revolutionary songs and poetry. Ashraf Sheikh, a long-time activist for the Bhutta Mazdoor & Muslim Sheikh community, and Baji Catherine, a teacher and activist of the Bhutta Mazdoor Movement, also presented revolutionary poems to energize the crowd.
The event concluded with a performance by Sangat Theater and Mazdoor Kisan Party members Muhammad Naqi, Umar Zamran, Laiba Akram, Laiba Qutb, and Muhammad Naeem Ansari, who performed the play "Call Blendy A" to highlight the struggles of workers.
Asghar Shaheen, Convener of the Organizing Committee of Azadi Tehreek (Punjab), thanked the participants and presented an action plan for the coming days. The plan outlined an intensified struggle against the exploitation of bonded labor by NGOs that profit from it, and the imperialist, feudal, and bureaucratic capitalist system that perpetuates it. The gathering ended with a strong resolve to continue the fight for workers' rights and the complete abolition of forced labor.
