HYDERABAD, July 23: The Sindh Employees Alliance has threatened to launch a protest movement followed by, as a last-resort, “fill the jails” campaign across the province against the provincial government’s ban on teachers’ and employees’ associations.

The SEA central action committee which met here on Saturday took the decision to launch a protest movement, boycott the preparation of voters’ lists and election duties.

The meeting chaired by SEA chairman Mohammad Rafique Jarwar decided that the protest movement would be followed by hunger strikes and demonstrations in district headquarters from July 25 to August 23 and lockout of all the educational institutions throughout the province on July 28 during which no education officer would be allowed to enter his office.

The committee resolved to disobey all the orders from the secretary of education and challenge his notification about banning the associations in the Sindh High Court. The meeting vowed to issue a white paper against alleged corrupt practices of education minister and said that it would launch in the second phase “fill the jails” movement.

Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party chairman Dr Qadir Magsi who is also central general secretary of PONM, and Sindh National Party chairman Amir Bhambhro also condemned the ban in separate statements.

HESCO: Hesco chief executive Maqbool Ahmed Khwaja appealed to heads of different provincial government departments and nazims of districts and talukas to clear their dues. In a statement released to the press on Saturday, he said that as of June 30, 2006 a staggering amount of Rs2,382 million remained outstanding against different departments of the Sindh government.