KARACHI: Several teachers including females seeking regularisation of their services were detained and manhandled by police for trying to stage a protest demonstration near Chief Minister House on Monday evening.

Witnesses and police said around 957 head teachers belonging to 29 districts had staged a sit-in first outside the Karachi Press Club and later on outside the Sindh Assembly building for the past 23 days.

The headmasters said they passed the required test conducted by IBA-Sukkur but the provincial government was not regularising their jobs.

On Monday, the head teachers marched towards CM House from the Sindh Assembly.

Around 100 of them reached PIDC traffic intersection, located a few yards from CM House, when they were manhandled by the police in a bid to disperse them.

The protesters claimed that the police detained their 20 colleagues including nine headmistresses.

They alleged that the police subjected them to “executive high-handedness”.

They said that the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party always talked about democratic rights but they had them tortured by police.

The protesters vowed to continue their protest till the regularisation of their services.

Later, the detained nine headmistresses were released by the police, said Faiza Fatima, one of the detained teachers.

She told Dawn that the police baton-charged their colleagues and some of them were reportedly hurt.

Ms Fatima said total 957 headmasters were recruited in the education department through tests conducted by the IBA-Sukkur, but the Sindh government was not regularising their services.

She said that it was their demand that their services be regularised through legislation from the Sindh Assembly on the pattern of the regularisation of the services of employees in other provincial departments.

A police officer, who wished not to be named, said that police only “pushed” the protesting teachers and they were not subjected to baton-charge.

He confirmed that all detained headmistresses had been released by the police, while around 11 headmasters were still in police custody.

Meanwhile, DIG-South Javed Akbar Riaz told Dawn that the police had not taken any action against the protesting teachers.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2021