Police baton-charge, arrest protesting teachers in Karachi

KARACHI: Police baton-charged protesting teachers and arrested more than 30 of them when they tried to enter the city’s red zone on Monday.

According to Geo News report, the teachers were protesting against the Sindh government and demanding regularisation of their services.

The protesters said the provincial government was not regularising their services, though they had cleared the National Testing Service (NTS) test.

While talking to Geo News, one of the teachers said they would either die during the protest or take home the notification of their regularisation.

He said the government was only extending their contract, keeping their status uncertain.

Some of the protesting teachers were hired during the previous government's tenure, but the incumbent government believes they hold fake degrees and certifications. The teachers were protesting outside the Karachi Press Club. However, the police intercepted them when they started moving towards the Chief Minister’s House.

A similar protest was held a few days earlier but had ended after negotiations with the district commissioner south.

However, the protesters had said they would hold a sit-in outside the CM House if their demands were not fulfilled.

During the previous protest also, teachers were arrested and baton-charged by the police when they tried to move toward the Sindh Secretariat. Agencies add: Primary Teacher Association Sindh President Shafi Muhammad, Liaquat Mirani, Ali Nawaz Pahnwar and others were present in the protest.

Several teachers including Mumtaz Mirani and Rizwan Shar were injured in the police action. They were shifted to a hospital through Edhi Ambulances. Those arrested include Shafi Muhammad, Ali Nawaz Pahnwar, Nasrullah Mazari, Lala Amar, Asghar Arain and Shah Gul Mazari. After the police action, teachers returned to the Karachi Press Club and staged a sit-in.

Liaqat Ali Mirani told the media the PPP government had double standards, as they treat with respect the protesting religious parties activists, but brutalise the teachers when they protest.

Chanting slogans against Sindh Education Minister Jam Mehtab Dahar, protesters demanded his immediate removal from the ministry. They appealed to chief justices of Pakistan and Sindh High Court to give special attention to their demands and issue orders for their regularisations.

Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Functional PML-F member of Sindh Assembly Nusrat Sehar Abbasi joined the protestors. She said education standards in Sindh were the lowest among the four provinces. She said she would raise their plight on the floor of the Sindh Assembly.

Later, the police offered negotiations with the striking teachers whose five-member delegation was taken to the office of Deputy Commissioner South.