LAHORE: A number of protesting visually-impaired persons were allegedly injured on Tuesday in clashes with police on The Mall as they attempted to march towards the Chief Minister House.

Police claimed that some of the policemen were also injured in these clashes, which disrupted traffic on The Mall, resulting in congestion on other city arteries in the area, including Lytton Road, Fane Road, Temple Road etc.

The protesters, who have been staging a sit-in at Charing Cross, were intercepted by the police near Lawrence Garden, when they attempted to remove barriers placed on the road to block their movement towards the CM House.

Despite the police’s efforts to disperse them, the determined protesters continued their sit-in near the Governor House, leading to further clashes.

Traffic mess witnessed on nearby roads

As a result, several visually-impaired protesters sustained injuries.

Given the intensity of the protest, deployment of police personnel was increased and additional barriers were placed on the roads leading to the Chief Minister House and Governor House.

One of the protesters, Abdul Shakoor, a resident of Lahore, claimed that as many as 40 people were injured in the clashes with police and were admitted to different hospitals, including Services and Sir Ganga Ram.

He said they had been protesting for the last nine days and were demanding lifting of the ban on the jobs for differently-abled persons.

He said the police also baton-charged the protesters to disperse them, but still 600 to 700 of them were sitting outside the CM House.

He said there were 7,000 seats meant for differently-abled persons lying vacant in 40 departments of the provincial government, while there were only 1,500 applicants for these slots.

He said around 600 differently-abled persons had been given daily-wage jobs, demanding they should be provided permanent jobs.

He said the government had been assuring them of lifting the ban on jobs after every protest in the past, but no step was taken in this regard.

He said some of the protesters have also been admitted to hospital with dengue fever.

A Lahore police spokesperson claimed police were showing restraint and not using force against the visually-impaired protesters. However, he added, necessary measures were taken to maintain law and order.

He said some police officials were also injured when they tried to stop the protesters from approaching the CM House.

He said the injured policemen include Lytton Road SHO Mr Waqas, Civil Lines official Nauman Maqsood, Sheharyar of Anti-Riot Force (ARF), Qurban Lines,Tahir of ARF Special Squad, Saggian, Sufyan and Arslan of ARF, besides constables Emmanuel, Daniyal Ahmed and Aziz.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz took notice of the protest by the visually-impaired persons and directed the police to show restraint and not to take any strict action against them.

She also directed Chief Secretary Zahid Akhtar Zaman to resolve the issues of the visually-impaired persons through a dialogue.

She expressed her sympathies for the police personnel injured during the clashes with the protesters.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2024