Across the Hub River From Karachi: What an NGO in Hub Can Do for Working Families

Hub is the Balochistan city that sits just across the Hub River from Karachi’s western edge. Many people pass through it on the RCD Highway without noticing that they have changed province. It has grown fast around its industrial estate, with factories, workshops, lorry yards and rows of rented rooms for workers who came from all over Pakistan. Anyone searching for an NGO in Hub is likely to be a worker or a worker’s family in trouble: wages held back, a factory accident, a debt to the grocer, or rent that has fallen behind.

Hub and the wider Lasbela area can apply to Peace and Humanity Welfare Organization (PHWO). To be plain about it, PHWO keeps no staff and no premises in Hub, not even across the river in Karachi; its sole office is in Larkana, Sindh. Contact happens through the website, Message PHWO in a free PHWO account, or a volunteer. There are no charges. Every application is examined by a volunteer; support comes only for a need that holds up and is within reach, so please expect no promise.

Hub's population: mostly urban, in a mostly rural province

The 2023 census tables list Hub as a sub-division of Lasbela District. Hub sub-division counted 233,443 people on 868 square kilometres, and about 84 percent of them were classed as urban, a very high share for Balochistan (PBS Balochistan district table). Lasbela as a whole had 680,977 residents. Balochi is the leading mother tongue across Lasbela at about three-quarters of residents, with Sindhi and Brahui each around a tenth or less (PBS language table). In Hub city itself you will also hear Pashto, Urdu, Punjabi and Saraiki from workers who moved here.

Work in the factories, and what goes wrong

Hub’s industrial estate draws labour because it is close to Karachi’s port and markets. Much of the work is on contract or by the day, in textiles, food, chemicals, steel and packaging. A worker who is injured, laid off or not paid for weeks may have no written contract and no savings. Families living in rented rooms can be pushed out when rent falls behind.

You can explain your situation through Request help: what job you did, when the income stopped, and what the household needs now. Groceries for the month, rent, medicine, school fees and loans are all things people ask about. Proof helps, such as a factory card, a hospital report or a rent receipt.

Villages behind the city

Beyond the factories, Lasbela’s villages live on livestock, fishing along the coast and rain-fed farming in the valleys of the Porali and Hub rivers. Drought hurts herders, and the 2022 monsoon floods damaged homes and roads across Balochistan (ReliefWeb: 2022 floods). Families from these villages often move into Hub looking for work, and arrive with nothing.

Newcomers can apply just like long-settled residents. Explain where you came from, why, and how you are living now.

How people in Hub send a request

• Fill in the form online, or message PHWO from your free PHWO account.
• Explain your situation in any language you speak: Balochi, Sindhi, Brahui, Urdu, Pashto or Punjabi.
• Add a live photo of yourself, with any factory card, rent paper or medical slip you have.
• If a volunteer rings back, have your documents to hand.

PHWO charges nothing. Refuse anyone at a factory gate or in the bazaar who offers to get your request through for money.

Legal advice for Hub workers and families

Courts at Hub and at Uthal, the old Lasbela headquarters, hear civil, criminal and family cases, and any appeal is heard by the provincial high court, a long way off in Quetta. Hub residents’ legal problems are often about unpaid wages, rented housing, or family breakdown: maintenance, dower, khula and custody.

Under Free legal aid, upload your papers and a short account. Volunteer lawyers review it and tell you the realistic options. No police report is needed to ask. Files about children or a court date coming soon get looked at before others. A lawyer taking your case to court is possible in some matters, never assured. Labour complaints may also go to the provincial labour department.

Public help in and around Hub

• Hub’s government hospital handles first treatment; many serious patients cross into Karachi’s big public hospitals.
• Police on 15; highway crashes on the RCD road are attended by provincial emergency teams.
• Women workers’ families may qualify for BISP Kafaalat, which an 8171 SMS of the CNIC confirms (bisp.gov.pk).
• After floods or drought in Lasbela, the provincial disaster authority posts relief news on pdma.gob.pk.
• Labour, social welfare and other provincial offices are on balochistan.gov.pk.

Supporting others from Hub

Factory owners, traders and Hub families abroad can Donate, in cash or in goods such as flour and cloth, or look after a particular worker’s family through Sponsor a case. Zakat and Sadaqah given are passed on complete. Supervisors who know which workers are struggling, lawyers, and fundraisers overseas can register as a Volunteer, gaining a certificate, a letter of appreciation and an experience letter.

Families from any faith who are looking for a match can also try the free Rishta Desk, where each profile is checked with a live selfie and reviewed by PHWO staff, and it is the two families who decide; a match is never promised.

Public services in Hub you can also use

• District courts at Hub and UthalCivil, criminal and family cases
• High Court of Balochistan, QuettaAppeals
• Government hospital, HubTreatment and referral
• PoliceDial 15
• BISP office HubSMS CNIC to 8171
• PDMA BalochistanFlood and drought relief
• Government of BalochistanLabour and social welfare departments

These are public or independent services, listed to help you. They are not part of PHWO.

Frequently asked questions