Blind persons protest against non-payment of salaries

Rawalpindi : A group of visually impaired persons staged a protest on Murree Road on Thursday demanding of the government to intervene as they had not received their salaries for past six months.

They blocked the Murree Road near Liaquat Bagh causing disruption in traffic flow. Punjab police contingent removed them from the road. Minor scuffles also broke out between the protesters and the policemen.

The blind women protesters Qurat-ul-Ain, Nadia Shaheen, Gazala Farooq, Sadia Akram and several others said that they have been deprived of salaries for over six months. Several blind people are unemployed while others are working on daily wages but have been deprived of salaries from six months. The daily wagers are working in different departments, they said.

They have complained that police officials baton-charged them and misbehaved with them. They also warned to block Metro Bus Service (MBS) if government did not accept their demands.

The protesters raised slogans against police and deputy commissioner, Rawalpindi on the occasion.

Assistant Commissioner (City) Naeema Afzal and Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Aijaz Hussain Shah during media talk said that they were ready to accept all genuine demands of protesters. “We are ready to provide them jobs according to a set quota of blind people. We will write a letter to concerned departments to pay salaries of six months to blind people, they promised.

They said that they did not want to use force against blind people but protesters were creating difficulties for office goers.