November 27, 2008	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 28, 1429

KARACHI, Nov 26: Teaching and non-teaching staff of colleges across the province observed a strike on Wednesday against the manhandling of ad-hoc lecturers by police during a demonstration outside the Sindh Assembly on Monday to demand regularisation of their employment.

The call for the strike was given by the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA), which organised protest meetings at various colleges to condemn the police excesses against the teaching community.

Demanding arrest theof policemen responsible for the excesses, SPLA leaders urged the government to take immediate steps to end the unrest prevailing among the teaching community and regularise the services of all the professors and lecturers serving on an ad-hoc basis.

Meanwhile, SPLA president Prof Amtus Sami and secretary-general Prof Liaquat Aziz have convened a meeting of the association’s high-powered committee on Thursday at the Govt Sachal Sarmast College, Hyderabad, to discuss the issue of ad-hoc teachers and other problems. The meeting would chalk out its future line of action in this regard.

Students suffer

A large number of regular candidates appearing in their BCom annual examination-2008 visited their colleges on Wednesday to collect their admit cards but had to return empty-handed because of the strike. The examination begins on Friday.—Staff Reporter