Ongoing sit-in and protest of visually impaired persons on Tuesday entered in second consecutive day as the police engaged in a scuffle with the protesters, thwarting their attempt to enter the Punjab Assembly to record their protest.
The protesters had been staging a sit-in since Monday on the stairs of the assembly to remind the provincial government of its promise to ensure their quota in government jobs and regularisation of their services.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Mehmoodur Rasheed accompanied the protesters in their sit-in for some time to register the support of his party for their cause.
According to an earlier report, the protesters had refused to end their sit-in citing the government’s response to their demands as “cold”.
“We will not end our protest till the acceptance of our demands – regularisation of services and implementation of two per cent job quota,” Muhammad Adnan, one of the protesters said.
The post-graduation student has further added, “Exactly three months back, the Punjab government had promised us to regularise the services of some 50 or so visually impaired persons in different departments, including the special education, when police manhandled us during the protest. And today again, the government is giving us a false hope through another promise, which we are not ready to accept this time.”
Devoid of patience, the protesters attempted to enter the assembly but they encountered baton-charging police officials which led to a scuffle with the protesters.
The blind protesters struck the policemen with their white canes when they resisted their entry.
Later, the demonstrators disengaged themselves from the scuffle and resumed their sit-in on the stairs of the assembly.
A delegation of the protesters reached Model Town to meet government’s negotiating committee head National Assembly Member Hamza Shahbaz but the meeting was scheduled to be held at 11 am on Wednesday (today). The protestors ended their protest but threatened to return if they were not handed over the letter that fulfils their demands.
