KARACHI: Black day in educational institutions today: Political parties condemn police action
KARACHI, Aug 23: Teachers, non-teaching staff and students of various educational institutions have planned to hold protest meetings and demonstrations on Thursday to raise concern over the police action against teachers, who were protesting against the ban on associations.
The Sindh Professors and Lecturers’ Association at a meeting on Wednesday condemned the harassment of teachers at the hands of police and decided to observe a black day throughout the province on Thursday.
The meeting observed that state organs were being used against teachers at the behest of education department’s hierarchy.
According to the SPLA, all teaching and non-teaching affairs would be boycotted at colleges would be boycotted at colleges on the black day against state oppression. The SPLA meeting demanded that police personnel involved in manhandling the teachers must be suspended and given punishment, while the education department should withdraw its notification pertaining to imposition of ban on teachers’ associations.
The United Teachers Forum of Karachi University has said that the act of imposing ban on teachers’ unions was illegal and against the democratic norms.
Expressing solidarity with the participants of demonstration on Tuesday, the forum said that teachers represented the dignified section of the society and they should be treated with honour and their rights and demands should not be pushed aside.
In the meantime, 27 teachers, who were arrested on Tuesday, were released on bail, granted by the judicial magistrate, South. Majority of the teachers belonged to the interior of Sindh.
KUTS: The Karachi University Teachers’ Society announced to observe black-day in protest against harassment of school and college teachers who were demanding the withdrawal of ban on teachers’ associations.
According to a KUTS press release, this was decided in an emergency meeting of the KUTS held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of its President Sarwar Nasim.
The meeting strongly condemned the police action and demanded that action be taken against those responsible for harassing the teaching community.
It also criticised the role of Sindh Education Minister Hamida Khuhro and fully endorsed all the demands of teachers of the province including the removal of the education minister.
The university teachers expressed complete solidarity with the protesting teachers of schools and colleges and said that such ban on teachers’ associations of Sindh was unconstitutional, illegal and against the basic human rights.
The KUTS decided that all its members would wear black armbands on Thursday and gather at arts lobby at 12.15pm to express their solidarity with the entire teaching community of the province.
IJT: The Islami Jamiat Talba on Wednesday condemned lence against teachers during a peaceful rally.
An IJT meeting said that rulers were trying to impose their personal decision on the education sector, which proved that the government was not serious to bring about any improvement in education sector. The IJT vowed to launch a joint struggle in coordination with all student and teacher unions, parental bodies and social figures.
The IJT decided that a black day would be observed in all educational institutes, universities, professional, intermediate and degree colleges of the city on Friday.
ACTION CONDEMNED: The opposition parties on Wednesday strongly condemned the police action against teachers, who were protesting for their democratic right to form association, and termed it inhuman and a shameful act.
They said that citizens had the rights to form associations, freedom and expression and freedom to hold peaceful protests under the Constitution.
Leader of opposition in Sindh Assembly, Nisar Ahmed Khuhro and PPP Sindh Secretary General Nafees Siddiqui defended teachers’ right to protest as enshrined in the Constitution and called for restoration all teacher unions together with students’ unions.
They said it was ironic that police and state machinery used ruthless means to disperse teachers who were holding a peaceful demonstration.
They said that Sindh government was strengthening bureaucracy by imposing ban on associations.
Terming the police action inhuman and tyrannical, PPP leaders predicted inevitability of a revolution, as people were consistently being oppressed and denied basic civil liberties.They said that the PPP was with each oppressed segment and individual of Sindh and would not abandon teachers in their hour of trial.
Supporting revival of students’ unions, they said that it would prevent extremism and create healthy competition among the youth and prepare them for taking responsibility in a democratic dispensation.
The central additional information secretary of PML (N), Sardar Abdur Rahim, denounced the police brutality against teachers, who were peacefully protesting against the ban on unions.
He said that the use of state machinery against teachers had exposed the government, which proclaimed itself democratic.
Teachers were considered as most respectable segment of society throughout the world, but the Sindh government had broken all records by humiliating this respectable community, he deplored.
