Police baton-charge, arrest nurses as they march towards CM House

Nurses lament that notification for the approval of their demands hasn't been issued

KARACHI: As angry nurses made their way to the Chief Minister's (CM) House on the 15th day of their protest, the situation turned violent. It has been more than a fortnight that nurses from across Sindh have been staging protest at the Karachi Press Club (KPC), urging the government to meet their demands, with no solution in sight.

Agitated by the provincial government's inaction over their call to issue a notification, guaranteeing the acceptance of their demands, nurses from across Sindh gathered at KPC and moved towards the CM House. Holding banners and shouting slogans against the Sindh government, they were accompanied by opposition members including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPAs Dua Talpur, Raja Azhar Khan and Saeed Afridi.

Resistance turns violent

In order to stop the protesters from reaching the CM House, police baton-charged them, as a result of which several nurses were injured. The tussle between both the parties intensified and a clash erupted. The clash led to the arrest of 20 nurses, including Sindh Nurses Alliance leader Aijaz Kalheri. This further enraged the protesters who continued to battle the police in a bid to reach the CM house. As a last resort, police made use of the water cannon but were unable to restrict the protesters from moving forward.

On reaching PIDC, the protesters were again blocked by barriers placed in their way by the traffic police. Amid the clashes and violence, police made feeble attempts at negotiating with the protesters, but in vain.

Demands

Talking to The Express Tribune, nurses lamented that it has been 15 days since the protest began and yet the notification, guaranteeing the approval of their demands, has not been issued by the government.

"We have waited enough," said one of the protesters, adding that the government seems uninterested in resolving the issue. "We have been assured multiple times that a notification confirming the acceptance of our demands will be issued and yet nothing has been done," she said.

Protesters claimed that health secretary had also assured them that a notification will be issued but they are still waiting for the promises to be fulfilled.

They termed the government's strategy of dealing with the issue a failure and declared that they were ready to face any action taken by the government against them but they will not change their stance. They remarked that they are forced to come out on the roads because of the government's careless attitude and demanded the immediate release of Kalheri.

Nurses from across Sindh have being staging protests to compel the government to meet their demands. The demands include the appointment of 14,000 new nurses, promotion and up-gradation of nursing staff under the four-tier formula, giving nursing school principals powers equivalent to those of DDOs, provision of health allowance and increasing the stipend of nursing students to Rs25,000.

Talking to media, PTI leaders Bhutto and Azhar remarked that nurses play an important role in the healthcare system and their demands should be met. Their demands are fair and yet the provincial government hasn't approved the summary of their demands, they said. The PTI leaders said that the government should take the matter seriously.

Negotiations

Adviser to Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah on Information, Law and Anti-Corruption Murtaza Wahab and Health Secretary Saeed Awan reached PIDC to negotiate with the protestors, on the directives of the CM.

Talking to media, Wahab said that the Sindh government wants to resolve the issue but nurses need to protest in a civilised manner. He informed the media persons that all arrested nurses have been released on the orders of the CM and said that a settlement has been reached between the nurses and the government. A summary regarding the protesters' demands has also been sent to the finance department, he added.

Notification for the approval of nurses' demands will be issued after Friday prayers, as directed by the CM, he said.

Release

Taking notice of the tense situation, the CM ordered the South Zone DIG Sharjil Kharal to release the arrested nurses.

South Zone SSP Sheeraz Nazeer confirmed the issuance of the release orders and told The Express Tribune that strict measures have been taken by the police to maintain peace in the city. He said that the police doesn't want to torture the nurses and are willing to negotiate with the protesters.

Arrested nurses were released a short while after the CM's orders.

Blaming the opposition

However, the CM said that there is no reason for the nurses to protest when they have reached a settlement with the health secretary. He said that opposition is politicising the issue, terming the act "terrible".

Wahab too lambasted the PTI leaders for "political point-scoring", saying that if they are so interested in protesting, they should then protest over "International Monetary Fund's budget."

Wahab said that nurses shouldn't be misled by others, accusing the opposition of inciting the protesters.