KARACHI: Teachers hold demo, stage sit-in at CM's House
By Mukhtar Alam
KARACHI, March 31: Hundreds of college teachers from all over Sindh staged a sit-in at the CM's House here on Wednesday to force the government to meet their demands. The protesters, a large number of them women, first gathered at the D. J. Science College to hold a protest rally.
They then started a march on the CM's House.
On the way, police repeatedly tried to block their way by applying conventional tactics at different places along Dr Ziauddin Ahmed Road. However, the marchers continue to proceed ahead.
The police made their last attempt to stop the march at the PIDC roundabout, but a good number of women protesters managed to break the police barriers to reach their destination.
The breach made way for the other participants who finally managed to stage a sit-in at the main gate of the CM's House. Some of the male and female police personnel grabbed a small group of protesters and snatched the banners they were holding in their hands.
The protesters, however, continued to raise slogans against the government and bureaucrats, including the chief secretary. Leaders of the Sindh Professors and Lecturers' Association (SPLA) were led into the CM's House for talks.
After the dialogue, they told the protesters that an additional secretary had assured them that an early meeting between the teachers' representatives and the chief minister would be arranged once the CM returned to the city.
They said they had presented the demands to the official and made it clear to him that the teachers wanted real business in the promised meeting as they were being deprived of their due rights for long.
"We pointed out that the provincial finance and education ministers and their departmental secretaries should also be asked to be present during our meeting with the CM in order to make the meeting productive," said Prof Agha Khalid Pathan and Prof Athar Mirza.
They were of the view that necessary notifications pertaining to the teachers' already accepted demands were not being issued only due to the lethargy on the part of the chief secretary.
During the course of the protest, vehicular traffic in the area remained disturbed. One of the participants described the rally as 'an extreme action by the teachers' who had been observing black days and adopting other methods for several months.
After the end of the sit-in, the SPLA convened a meeting at the D. J. Science College under the chairmanship of its President Prof Riaz Ahsan. The meeting decided to observe a black day in Sindh on April 7.
A general body would be held the next day at the college to review any progress and to evolve future line of action, said a spokesman for the SPLA. At an earlier general body meeting on Wednesday, the college teachers' representatives from different areas of Sindh noted that despite accepting association's demands, the government had remained indifferent to the teachers' grievances.
The SPLA demands include enforcement of a time scale system for promotion; grant of a uniform 60 per cent house rent; restoration of house rent frozen since 1994 and a refund of the arrears; 30 per cent medical allowance, 10 per cent conveyance allowance; more than 500 promotions on the basis of a four-tier formula; and higher grades for librarians and DPEs.
The SPLA also demands separation of college education from the purview of district government, saying that it should be given under the control of provincial government.
Teachers from Hyderabad, Thatta, Larkana, Ghotki, Jacobabad, Nawabshah, Shikarpur, Khairpur and Dadu participated in the SPLA meeting and rally on Wednesday. Those who spoke at the general body meeting included, Prof Riaz Ahsan, Prof Agha Khalid, Prof Manzoor H. Chishti, Prof Sher Khan Sulero, Prof Shahjehan Panhwar, Prof Shahida Siraj, Prof Sarfraz Ali Khan and Prof Ayub Mari.
Meanwhile, the provincial education minister has put forward the teachers' demands, concerning the federal government, with a note that the matter be taken up by the relevant ministries.
