JI stages walkout from NA over use of force against visually impaired protesters

Published December 4, 2014
Police use force to disperse visual impaired men during their demonstration in support of demands in Lahore.— Online
Police use force to disperse visual impaired men during their demonstration in support of demands in Lahore.— Online
Police pushing visually impaired men as they clear a road during a demonstration in Lahore. — Online
Police pushing visually impaired men as they clear a road during a demonstration in Lahore. — Online

ISLAMABAD: The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) stage a walkout from the National Assembly on Thursday over use of force by Punjab Police against visually impaired protesters who were holding a demonstration in Lahore a day earlier.

MNA Sahibzada Tariqullah, belonging to the JI, told the National Assembly that his party condemned police excesses against blind protesters in Lahore.

He further said that people with special needs were not being given their rights and instead visually impaired people were being manhandled.

The JI leader added that he had yet to see robbers and thugs being baton-charged in the country.

Read: Police baton-charges blind protesters in Lahore, several injured

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) strongly condemned the violence against the visually impaired demonstrators who were staging a rally on Lahore's Davis Road to advocate for their rights in view of World Disability Day.

The clash had broken out when around 200 protesters tried to march towards the chief minister's secretariat and police tried to disperse them.

Parliamentary Secretary Rajab Baloch said he had not seen policemen baton-charge any protesters. He added that two to three visually impaired persons had fallen down due to pushing and shoving that occurred during the clash between police and protesters.

The parliamentary secretary went on to appreciate the efforts of the Punjab government for taking immediate action against those responsible for the incident.

After media coverage of Wednesday's police action, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who is currently in Qatar, ordered an inquiry while IG (Operations) Dr Haider Ashraf suspended two ASIs and three constables.

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