LAHORE, Sept 23: Doctors, teachers and students on Monday held a demonstration at Faisal Chowk on The Mall to protest against the government policy to constitute boards of governors for hospitals and educational institutions.

In a strong police presence, a large number of doctors and teachers went on a token hunger strike from 10.30am to 2pm, led by Pakistan Medical Association central president Prof Yasmin Rashid, Punjab teachers Joint Action Committee chairman Nazim Hasnain, Punjab University Academic Staff Association president Prof Dr Haris Rasheed and teachers’ representatives from Sindh, Balochistan and the NWFP.

The demonstrators chanted slogans against the government policy which, according to them, would deprive a majority of the people of their basic right to avail educational and health facilities.

They unanimously passed three resolutions, the first of which rejected the constitution of board of governors in educational institutions and hospitals, which would “convert the institutions into markets and departmental stores”; the second rejected the government’s policy of hiring teachers and doctors on contract, which would generate a sense of insecurity amongst the employees and affect their performance while the third demanded that the government should allocate at least six per cent of the GNP to the education sector and as much to the health sector. They said the current allocation of around 2.55 per cent of the GNP was a violation of the Constitution as well as the UN charter.

Speaking on the occasion, the doctors and teachers said the government was misleading the masses in the name of quality education and health care. They said the masses would reject such educational and health care services that were beyond their limited means.

They said the doctors, teachers, students and their parents had also rejected establishment of those universities that would be run by “looters in the guise of boards of governors”.

The leaders of doctors’ and teachers’ communities also announced that they would launch a countrywide campaign to pressurize the government into accepting their demands. Doctors and teachers would hold protest demonstrations and rallies in all provincial capitals on October 4.

According to a schedule announced on the occasion, the first rally in Sargodha on Oct 1 will be followed by rallies in Faisalabad (Oct 2), Multan (Oct 3), Lahore (Oct 4), Gujranwala (Oct 5) and Rawalpindi (Oct 7).

After October 14, they announced, doctors and teachers would be holding protest meetings and demonstrations in all cities of the country every Monday and Thursday.