The beating of blind protesters

Blind workers held demonstration outside Lahore Press Club demanding their rightful share in public sector jobs

My kids questioned me when they saw the footage of the Punjab police using batons on visually impaired protestors, “Papa, what are they doing?” I was deeply ashamed and had no answer to give to my children while police officials perpetrated brutalities against them. The children asked once again about the crime that the handicapped had committed: I, again, had no reply to offer. They looked shocked and began to murmur amongst themselves.

Blind workers had held a demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club to demand their rightful share in public sector jobs and urged the government to reserve a quota. Although their demands were legitimate and the protest was their democratic right, they had little idea of the treatment that would be meted out to them by the police. They protested in the hope that they will get a sympathetic response from the government. But I felt that the protesters had no knowledge of the grisly actions of the police force in Lahore earlier this year. It may be because they are visually impaired and so, have not witnessed the video clips of ‘Gullu-ism’ and the targeted killings of workers of different parties. Instead of getting a positive response from the government, these poor protestors were beaten black and blue as they stepped upon a road reserved under protocol for the president of Pakistan’s visit.

The PML-N in 2008 made a slogan that the change of shabby ‘thana culture’ will make for a step towards good governance. It aimed to make the police a subservient force to taxpayers. The Punjab government drained billions of rupees from the kitty for this purpose. The recent cruel incident is enough to trigger the implementation of some accountability framework in the police — but we all know that none of that shall come to pass.

Lahore is the city where most of the provincial government machinery is lodged, and this is nature of human rights violations that happen there. One can only imagine the extent of police high-handedness in other parts of Pakistan, especially far-flung villages.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15^th, 2014.