Yet another group of protesters belonging to a Sindh government department was subjected to baton-charging, teargas shelling and water cannons by the police on Wednesday as they tried to move towards the Red Zone.
Around 500 paramedics working in various hospitals of Karachi and other parts of the province had gathered outside the Karachi Press Club to protest against non-payment of health professional allowance and for restoration of their previous service structure.
When they tried to march towards the Chief Minister’s House in the Red Zone to make their demands heard, riot police kicked into action and started baton-charging, firing teargas and water cannons at the protesters, while making several arrests.
The protesting paramedics initially pelted stones at the police, but tried to run away after riot police used heavy teargas and batons against them. Police officials reportedly chased the protesters in the streets around KPC and many of them were even arrested from the nearby Zainab Market, and shifted to different police stations.
“We have arrested 30-35 protesters after they tried to violate the relevant laws, threw stones at police and used force and violence to enter the Red Zone,” South SSP Sarfraz Nawaz told The News after the protest was dispersed. He added FIRs would be registered against the arrested paramedics under sections 353 and others related to violence.
According to him, a few policemen and passersby were injured when the protesters threw stones at police, but officials remained fixed in their resolve and prevented them from entering the Red Zone.
“Police remained unmoved until the protesters were peaceful outside the KPC, but when they started hooliganism, we were compelled to take action against them,” said SSP Nawaz.
On the other hand, leaders of the protesting paramedics claimed that police subjected them to brutal violence, fractured the arms and legs and smashed the heads of many paramedics. They further claimed that police used “chemical weapons” when some protesters tried to go towards the CM House to present their demands, which caused severe trauma and internal organ damage to them.
“Police has arrested 120-130 paramedics, including women, and many are still missing; we don’t know their whereabouts,” Qayyum Marwat, the leader of the joint action committee of the protesting paramedics, said to The News.
He added two of the paramedics were admitted at Civil Hospital’s trauma centre and at JPMC with broken bones, ribs and other serious injuries. According to Marwat, hundreds of paramedics from across Sindh had gathered outside KPC to present their demands to the CM and the health department that they were not being paid health professional allowance and provided service structure, but the health authorities were not paying heed to them so they decided to march to CM house.
“Employees of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and National Institute of Child Health are getting health professional allowance, pharmacists are getting health professional allowance, while nurses in the province are also being given this allowance, but hundreds of paramedics working at various hospitals have been deprived of this facility, which is unjust and cruel,” Marwat said.
He further said that they would resume their protest at KPC on Wednesday until their demands are met. “We are convening an emergency meeting tonight [Tuesday night] and if our demands are not met and colleagues are not released, we would close down all the hospitals in Sindh, except for emergencies,” Marwat warned.
