UNDER a democratic leadership, the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in public spaces is one of the cornerstones of civil liberty. However, the state’s implementation of this principle — often depending on who is protesting — leaves a lot to be desired. This was evident in the case of the schoolteachers from Ghotki, Sindh, who were subjected to police highhandedness on Thursday in Karachi. The teachers were demonstrating against the corrupt practices of the authorities that have deprived them of their salaries for two years when they were set upon by baton-wielding policemen. The state is due a few reminders: all citizens have a right to bring peaceful pressure to bear on the government as long as sit-ins and rallies remain non-violent as was the case with the protesting schoolteachers. Also, when protesters observe a reasonable time, place and manner for protesting, the police cannot thrash them to break them up. While violence is not the answer to demonstrations of this kind, the level of impunity afforded to some groups of protesters attempting to derail the democratic order through aggressive means is quite simply astonishing. This has been on display for almost three weeks in the capital and Rawalpindi, where far-right religious elements led by the Tehreek Labbaik Ya Rasool Allah went so far as to beat policemen and journalists — legally punishable actions. The state’s indecisiveness on how to deal with them has been critiqued because the protest has paralysed the twin cities.

Meanwhile, instead of cracking down on protesting teachers, doctors and the like, the state must consider their genuine grievances, negotiate with them, and in the longer run, take steps to rectify matters. In the case of the Ghotki schoolteachers, what more evidence is needed than the province’s education minister conceding to corrupt practices prevalent in education, including the hiring of 23,000 ghost teachers in Sindh? If complaints regarding the status and salaries of teachers are not addressed, quality learning for our children will suffer.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2017