NADRA protests intensify after police baton charge
Employees gather outside Benazir’s tomb, demand permanent jobs.
KARACHI:
The ongoing protest by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) employees further intensified after the police baton charged the protestors at the NADRA office in Karachi on Thursday.
More employees joined in the protests following the move by the police.
“I was running the office and providing services to people despite the countrywide protests but when the police tortured me and dragged me into their vehicle without any reason, I am forced to join the protest,” said Noman Memon, a system engineer at NADRA.
“The police, who were dressed in civilian clothes, asked if we worked for NADRA and then started beating us and dragged us to the police mobile,” said Razaq, another system engineer who was beaten by the police while he was taking tea at the cafeteria of the Awami Markaz office.
NADRA employees, including officers who were not taking part in the demonstration, joined the protest camp outside the press club and shouted slogans for job regularisation.
Meanwhile, the NADRA Employees Welfare Association (NEWA) Sindh held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club and demanded job regularisation and reinstatement of the 61 sacked employees.
NEWA Sindh President Raza Khan Swati condemned the NADRA management for expelling 61 employees.
“The management is using illicit tactics to stop us from our legal rights but we will continue our struggle till acceptance of our demands,” said Swati.
He claimed that they have closed all offices of NADRA in Karachi including its provincial headquarters.
Protest in Garhi Khuda Bux
Disappointed with the Pakistan Peoples Party’s stance towards their demands, hundreds of NADRA employees protested outside the mausoleum of Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux on Thursday.
After demonstrations at their district headquarters in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Larkana, Dadu and Qamber-Shahdadkot yielded no results, NEWA members held placards and banners and staged a sit-in.
The association’s leaders said that Prime Minister Gillani had announced permanent jobs for all contract employees in the country, including those of NADRA. Then on October 17 last year, Nadra employees staged a sit-in outside Parliament House dispersed after meeting with the interior minister NADRA chairman. As a result a letter was issued that addressed their demands.
However, a couple of days later, another letter came through that undid those orders. (WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SARFARAZ MEMON IN SUKKUR)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2012.
The ongoing protest by National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) employees further intensified after the police baton charged the protestors at the NADRA office in Karachi on Thursday.
More employees joined in the protests following the move by the police.
“I was running the office and providing services to people despite the countrywide protests but when the police tortured me and dragged me into their vehicle without any reason, I am forced to join the protest,” said Noman Memon, a system engineer at NADRA.
“The police, who were dressed in civilian clothes, asked if we worked for NADRA and then started beating us and dragged us to the police mobile,” said Razaq, another system engineer who was beaten by the police while he was taking tea at the cafeteria of the Awami Markaz office.
NADRA employees, including officers who were not taking part in the demonstration, joined the protest camp outside the press club and shouted slogans for job regularisation.
Meanwhile, the NADRA Employees Welfare Association (NEWA) Sindh held a press conference at the Karachi Press Club and demanded job regularisation and reinstatement of the 61 sacked employees.
NEWA Sindh President Raza Khan Swati condemned the NADRA management for expelling 61 employees.
“The management is using illicit tactics to stop us from our legal rights but we will continue our struggle till acceptance of our demands,” said Swati.
He claimed that they have closed all offices of NADRA in Karachi including its provincial headquarters.
Protest in Garhi Khuda Bux
Disappointed with the Pakistan Peoples Party’s stance towards their demands, hundreds of NADRA employees protested outside the mausoleum of Benazir Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bux on Thursday.
After demonstrations at their district headquarters in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Kashmore, Larkana, Dadu and Qamber-Shahdadkot yielded no results, NEWA members held placards and banners and staged a sit-in.
The association’s leaders said that Prime Minister Gillani had announced permanent jobs for all contract employees in the country, including those of NADRA. Then on October 17 last year, Nadra employees staged a sit-in outside Parliament House dispersed after meeting with the interior minister NADRA chairman. As a result a letter was issued that addressed their demands.
However, a couple of days later, another letter came through that undid those orders. (WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SARFARAZ MEMON IN SUKKUR)
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2012.