Police crack down on employees of boards

LAHORE, Refusing to put up with prolonged protest by employees of the education boards in Punjab any more, the provincial administration has ordered crackdown on those taking to the street.

The police on Tuesday arrested scores of board employees, in some cases their kin, at Lahore and other major stations to stamp on the protests. Employees of the eight boards have been in a protest mode for the last two weeks to press the government for releasing grant equal to the examination fee waiver given to the matriculation students.

The police also registered FIRs against board employees in some divisional headquarters. The higher education secretary tried to create an impression that the federation had called off the strike, though board employees federation leaders said the strike was very much there and that any decision would be taken on Wednesday.

Khalid Javed Niazi, who heads the Employees Federation Boards of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Punjab, said hundreds of boards’ employees had themselves gone to police stations to court arrest. He said some 200 employees had gone to court arrest in Multan, but the police detained only 10 employees.

Similarly, he said, seven employees were arrested in Dera Ghazi Khan, three in Gujranwala, two in Lahore and one in Faisalabad.

Mr Niazi told Dawn late in the evening that the strike was continuing and they would take a decision on Wednesday morning.

BISE, Lahore, Employees Welfare Association President Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam Gujjar, however, said the police had arrested 70 employees across Punjab. On Monday, the Punjab government had issued show-cause notices to 85 boards’ employees who were leading the pen-down strike after suspending work, jeopardising the conduct of matriculation examination scheduled for March 13.Meanwhile, the Higher Education Department continued to ensure that the staff hired from universities, colleges and schools should reach board offices and re-start the process to hold the examination on time.

Punjab Higher Education Secretary Ahad Khan Cheema claimed that the Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Bahawalpur board employees had resumed their duties. He said the government would ensure that the examinations are held on time.

Mr Cheema said the arrested employees would be released soon after the federation would call off the strike.

FAISALABAD, The Civil Lines police of Faisalabad arrested Education Board Welfare Association Vice-President Rana Asghar when he was protesting outside the board, along with his colleagues.

A heavy police contingent was deployed outside the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Faisalabad to prevent demonstration. The police also stopped the board employees from entering their offices.

GUJRANWALA, Law enforcers raided EBWA chairman Chaudhry Bashir Ahmad Cheema’s place for his arrest in connection with the Monday midnight strike but found him missing. They, however, picked up his son Osama, a ninth-class student, and locked him up at the police station.

They also apprehended association senior vice-president Hassan Muhammad Shahzad and former information secretary Faheem Hassani. Reports said Osama was later released on the intervention of an SP.

Meanwhile, the Gujranwala board employees continued their strike on the 14th consecutive day outside the board complex. They chanted slogans against the government and demanded that “all our genuine demands should be met”.

The board administration hired the services of schoolteachers for sending the roll number slips to matric candidates for their annual examination.

BAHAWALPUR, The police were in action also in Bahawalpur as they stood alert outside the BISE campus. They asked the board employees to call off the strike.

The administration locked the offices as the protesting employees held a meeting at the nearby agriculture department’s nursery. Later, they disappeared to avert arrests.

In a press release, the employees association announced that they would continue their strike. They alleged the board authorities had disconnected their water connections at the residential quarters.

The association president, Sajid Ijaz said show-cause notices had been served on 12 employees besides himself. They include secretary-general Ijaz Hussain Akhtar, deputy finance secretary Sajjad Randhawa, Muhammad Boota, Asim Khan, Abdul Rashid, Shahid Shaheen, Khalid Ghafoor, Yaqoob Bhatti, Khalid Ayyaz, Muhammad Kashif and Abdul Rashid Sial.

MULTAN, The district police took into custody scores of BISE employees. Board’s union secretary-general Malik Nisar put the figure of those arrested at 500.

He said the police tried to arrest the union office-bearers, but all the board employees presented themselves to the police for arrest. The government, he said, was employing mean tactics to harass the board employees. The protesters would, however, not budge an inch from their position.

Gulgasht DSP Atiqur Rehman said 210 board employees had been brought to the police station and the DCO ordered detention of 10 of them. If the protesters would not give assurance of ending the strike, he said, the police would institute a case under section 188 against the remaining ones as well and send them behind the bars.

In the meantime, the clerical staff of colleges and universities took charge at the board office for a short time but later joined the board employees in their protest after denying work.