KARACHI: Thirty-eight people were detained on Wednesday as police used tear gas and baton-charged protesting teachers headed towards Chief Minister House from Karachi Press Club (KPC).

Hundreds of teachers had gathered outside the press club on the call of the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association. They were headed towards CM House to present their demands that pertained to the service structure and called for delegating powers for transfers and postings to district officers.

The protesters chanted slogans and attempted to move towards the CM House. However, when they arrived near Fawara Chowk, police baton-charged them and used tear gas shells to push them back toward the press club.

Adjoining roads near the KPC were closed to traffic, according to a traffic police spokesperson.

South Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that a teachers’ organisation had announced a protest at the KPC, with a march planned toward the CM House.

He said prior to the protest, the administration made concerted efforts to resolve the matter through negotiations and engaged officials from the education department to facilitate meaningful dialogue.

The official said the protest leadership was categorically told that entry into the Red Zone — a term used to denote the area surrounding Governor House and Chief Minister House — would not be permitted. Nevertheless, the administration was directed to exhaust all available resources and make every effort to ensure a peaceful resolution through dialogue, he said.

Raza alleged that around 3:15pm, the protesters turned “violent, abandoned the course of negotiations and forcibly started advancing towards the CM House.”

He claimed that the protesting teachers “breached police barricades and resorted to pelting police personnel with stones, causing injuries to one official.”

“Upon reaching and crossing Kabir Masjid on Governor House Road, the situation escalated, compelling police to resort to shelling to disperse the violent mob and restore order,” said the South police chief.

He said during the operation, 38 protesters, including the president of the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association, Ghulam Rasool Mahar, and the general secretary, Aijaz Ali Chandio, were taken into custody.

Raza insisted that police took drastic action as the teachers tried to enter the Red Zone.

Meanwhile, Rafiq Nizamani, the vice president of the teachers’ association, told Dawn that in 2021, the Sindh government had chalked out an “education policy” under which it was decided that teachers would not be promoted and they would remain in the same pay scale.

He said they launched a protest against this “arbitrary” decision as others were being promoted, but not them. He said that at the time, the government had assured them that their demands would be addressed, but this did not happen.

He said apart from the service structure, their other demands pertained to delegating the powers of posting primary teachers to district government officials. He said that they wanted recruitment and the transfer/posting of teachers to be delegated to district officials.

According to Nizamani, as the protesters moved from KPC towards CM House, police resorted to tear gas and a baton charge.

He claimed that two teachers were also injured. Nizamani said that they had decided to set up a protest camp outside the KPC for the fulfilment of their demands.

He admitted that the education officials had approached them for talks, but said they considered it “delaying tactics” in view of their past unfulfilled promises and decided to hold a protest march.