KARACHI: Police on Wednesday detained over 30 professors and lecturers, including women teachers, for staging a sit-in near the Chief Minister House located in the city’s so-called ‘red zone’ in protest against the provincial government for not giving them time-scale promotions.

Footage of policemen manhandling and bundling the protesting teachers, including females, into their vans to take them to police stations aired by the media caused an outrage as many political parties condemned what they called the highhandedness of the law enforcement agencies against the educators.

Also, the Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association (SPLA) announced a province-wide boycott of academic activities on Thursday (today) against the police action and detention of their colleagues.

Officials said around 200-250 lecturers and professors on the call of SPLA staged a sit-in at PIDC House near CM House causing traffic suspension on the main artery. They were protesting for their time-scale promotions.

The protesting teachers claimed that a summary was approved by then chief minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah but it had not been implemented so far, compelling them to stage a protest for the acceptance of their demands.

SPLA announces province-wide boycott of academic activities today

A police officer said that police authorities held talks with them so that they could vacate the place but they refused to do so. “We took action for their arrest to get the road cleared for traffic,” he said.

The police arrested the teachers when they were offering Maghrib prayer “without resorting to high-handed tactics”, the official said, adding that the police did not resort to baton-charge or use a water cannon or tear-gas shelling.

The detained teachers, including females, were shifted to different police stations.

According to an SPLA statement, teachers across Sindh would observe a complete boycott of academic activities on Thursday (today) and wear black armbands in protest.

Earlier in the day, the ‘coordination committee for time scale’ of SPLA as part of their Sindh-wide protest gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and held a meeting of their general body with Prof Anwar Mansoor in chair.

After the meeting, as the professors and lecturers started moving towards CM House, contingents of police tried to prevent them from entering the ‘red zone’.

However, the teachers, including females, managed to reach the red zone, where they staged a sit-in.

The SPLA statement said that police “tortured” several protesting professors and lecturers, including females, and arrested them when they were offering Maghrib prayer.

Those detained included Anwar Mansoor, Abdul Jabbar, Malook, Benazir Junejo, Lala Rukh Baloch, Zakia, Rahila Memon, Maria Abro and others.

After their arrest, the teachers returned to the KPC where they staged a sit-in and vowed to continue their protest till fulfilment of their demands.

SPLA representatives condemned the police action and the provincial government for their highhandedness in the current democratic era.

The SPLA office-bearers recalled that “hundreds of thousands” of schoolteachers were given time-scale promotions in 2010 but college lecturers and professors had been deprived of their legitimate rights since long.

They pointed out that the provincial government had promised to grant time-scale promotions to the college lecturers also but it had not been implemented so far, compelling them to take to the streets.

They vowed to continue their protest till the issuance of a notification to this effect.

A senior police official told Dawn on Wednesday evening that 44 male and three female teachers had been booked.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2019