Traffic mess follows visually impaired protest

LAHORE: Massive traffic jams stalled life on and around the busiest thoroughfare, The Mall, of the provincial metropolis as the visually impaired staged a protest at the Club Chowk, demanding regularisation of their jobs.

From the canal intersection of The Mall to the GPO intersection on the other side, the roads were packed with hundreds of vehicles that were virtually had nowhere to go. The protesters were holding banners and placards inscribed with their demands regarding their regularisation. They chanted anti-government slogans and beat their chests to demonstrate their misery and helplessness. They demanded that those working on ad hoc basis in Special Education Department should be granted permanent employment with the government as promised by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

As the protest was in its early hour, certain vehicles tried to cross the Club Chowk on which the protesters grabbed hold of a rickshaw driver, dragged him out of his vehicle and gave him a good beating.

The matter was aggravated because it was a working day and the demo was staged right at the time all office timings end. It was not just The Mall that was clogged as all connecting roads.