Sir: Labour Day is marked every year on May 1. Political statements are made, programmes on labour rights are aired on the electronic media, columns on labour rights are written in newspapers and magazines and the general public enjoys the holiday but the class for which this day is celebrated goes to work as usual because celebrations cannot feed the children of the labourer. They have to work their entire life to sustain their life because the wages they get cannot bring them prosperity. The provisions of the constitution and human rights instruments have no meaning for them. They know they have to work for whatever they are paid and in whatever conditions they are put. Instead of criticising the government for not fulfilling its constitutional obligations, or industrialists for exploiting the helplessness of the labourers, or landlords for keeping the poor as their slaves generation after generation, let us make one solid resolution on this Labour Day: we should give self-respect to the labour class of our society. We, the common citizens of Pakistan, can make a positive change in the lives of the labour class by giving them the respect they deserve. This will definitely give them hope and reaffirm their faith in hard work. If they are deprived of their self-respect, despite all the labour in their life, they may resort to other means of attaining wealth that may be illegal and even violent. MUHAMMAD ZAHEER ABBAS Islamabad