June 4, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 3, 1424

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RAWALPINDI, June 3: Teachers are all set to stage a protest sit-in in front of the Parliament House on Wednesday against what they said the government’s apathy towards their problems.

Almost all the union leaders from the four provinces and Azad Kashmir have reached the capital, the central vice-president of Punjab Teachers Union, Zafeer Ahmad Sathi, told Dawn on Tuesday. He said about 10,000 teachers had also arrived in twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad from Sindh and Baluchistan to participate in the protest rally.

The teachers bodies, which will participate in the protest, include Mutahidda Mahaz Assateza Pakistan, Punjab Teachers Union, Teachers Association NWFP, Baluchistan Teachers Organisation, Azad Kashmir Teachers Union, Primary Teachers Association Sindh, United Teachers Alliance and Senior Teaching Staff Association.

The union leaders said the protest would be peaceful but if the administration tried to disrupt it, the protesters could be turned violent. The local president of Punjab Teachers Union, Imtiaz Ahmad Abbasi, said all arrangements had been finalized in connection with the protest. Committees have been formed keeping the whole plan secret, he added.

An emergency meeting of the executive committee of Mutahidda Mahaz Assateza Pakistan was held here on Tuesday to take stock of the arrangements for the protest rally. The chairman of the Mahaz, Abdul Ghafoor Kudayzai, presided over the meeting. He told the meeting that the promises made with the teachers last year had been delayed without any reason and teachers were being compelled to come out on the roads.

He fixed the responsibility of the protest on the bureaucracy and rulers. Teachers want to get their problems solved through talks.

They do not want to hold rallies and demonstrations but the rulers have put them in a trial, he added. He said the teachers had pledged to get their rights come what may.

When contacted by this reporter for comments, he said the Wednesday rally was the beginning of a big movement, which the teachers had planned to launch. “It will continue till the acceptance of our long-standing demands,” he added.

The provincial heads of teacher unions, speaking on the occasion, vowed to continue their fight unless their 10-point charter of demands was accepted.