The 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills was one of the most brutal acts of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's regime in Pakistan.
[1] In 1977, the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto regime was overthrown by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, which unleashed new attacks on the working class and trade unions.
[3] Violent events from mass killings of workers to genocide[clarification needed] of peasants and youth engulfed the country.
[4] Zia implemented policies friendly to industrialists, which saw forceful imprisonment of workers, a ban on trade unions, low wages and contract labour.
[5] Nationalized industries were given back to industrialists with hefty compensation and capitalists took revenge on workers in the form of brutal repression.
[8] It was initially established at Faisalabad but, due to competition with Delhi Cloth & General Mills of Sir Shri Ram, it shifted to Multan in the 1940s.
The mill administration agreed to pay a two months' bonus at the end of January, but workers rejected the offer and stopped working on 29 December 1977.
[14] A participant of this struggle, Lal Khan, recounted the incident in his book:[10] The paramilitaries started firing directly at the workers who were gathering for a peaceful gate meeting.
In a scene of indescribable horror workers screamed and stampeded over the bloodstained corpses of their workmates, crushing many others as they desperately tried to evade the carnage.
Later on an effort was made to remove the bodies of the workers from the gutter and place them elsewhere, in order to arrange for their proper burial with their comrades and relatives present.While official and press reports stated that some 13 to 22 people were killed,[12] unofficial estimates put the total number as high as 150–200.