KARACHI, Sept 15: More than 35,000 college teachers on call of the All Pakistan Professors and Lecturers Association observed a nationwide ‘black day’ on Friday.

The protesting teachers wore black armbands and approved resolutions against government’s anti-teachers polices in protest gatherings held in their respective colleges.

The black day was observed against the ban on teachers’ organisations by the Sindh Education Department, manhandling of male and female teachers by police in Karachi, booking them in false cases, adding more sections in these FIRs, sending many teachers on forced leave, issuance of showcase notices and sacking.

In Karachi, the central protest moot was held at the Khatoon-i-Pakistan College in which participants condemned the Sindh government for banning associations of teachers instead of solving their problems.

A large number of college teachers in Lahore expressed their solidarity with teachers of Sindh. They said that the teachers of Punjab were ready to lay sacrifices for the cause of their brethren in Sindh. The central protest moot in Rawalpindi was held in the Government College Asghar Mall Road. The moot strongly condemned behaviour of Sindh education department and police and expressed solidarity with protesting teachers of Sindh province.

Announcing full backing to the struggle of teachers of Sindh, college teachers in Peshawar organised protest gatherings in different colleges. They condemned imposition of ban on teachers associations in Sindh. In Quetta, the Balochistan Professors and Lecturers Association held central protest gathering in the Government Science College.

The participants of the gathering said that they would not leave the teachers of Sindh alone. They strongly condemned victimization of Sindh teachers by the state. The protest gatherings were also held in colleges of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The speakers termed the ban on teachers associations of Sindh a blatant violation of the Constitution.

The vice-president of All Pakistan Professors and Lecturers Association, Prof Manzoor Hussain Chishti, thanked teachers of the whole country for fully backing their brethren in Sindh. He said that the practical struggle of teachers throughout the country had given a new courage and spirit to the teaching community to stand against the atrocities of state.

He said that according to APPLA programme, teachers’ leaders would hold press conferences on all provincial capitals on Sept 20 to apprise the people about the 'black laws' of the Sindh government and 'state terrorism' meted out to teachers. He said that on the occasion, the details of corruption and financial mismanagement of Sindh education department would be released, besides announcing future strategy of the struggle of teachers.—PPI