Blind persons continue sit-in outside Punjab PA

LAHORE: The main gates of Punjab Assembly remained closed for the second consecutive day on Tuesday as blind protesters continued the sit-in at The Mall outside the main entrance of the Assembly to press for their demands implementing the allocated job quota in government departments.
The Mall remained closed to traffic while the ministers, MPAs, government officials and visitors to the assembly had to use the back gate of the assembly which was specially opened on the previous day when the sit-in of the blind started. Several rounds of negotiations between the blind persons and government representatives were held inside the assembly building led by Provincial Minister Haroon Sultan Bukhari but did not bear any fruit.
In the evening, the representatives of the blind persons reached the Model Town residence of the Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif but reportedly a meeting could not take place and they had to return without success, after which they resumed their protest which continued till the filing of this report in the night.
Though many government ministers assured them that an increase in their quota would be implemented as per the promise, the blind persons demanded that the appointment letters of daily wage service given to many of their colleagues should be immediately regularised which was not done in the past.
The infuriated blind persons, most of whom had spent the previous night outside the Assembly compound, blocked The Mall in the morning when the Assembly session was about to begin. Raising slogans against the government, they complained that they had been assured by the Punjab government spokesman Zaeem Qadri that the chief minister would himself meet them in the morning to give them fresh assurance about the acceptance of their demands.
However, they complained, they had just been told that the chief minister was not scheduled to see them and they should accept the assurance by the government spokesman that their demands had been

accepted and would be implemented within this month. The police guard outside the assembly premises initially tried to push the blind persons back in order to open the road but the blind persons aided by some normal persons did not budge.
Soon, the PTI leaders led by Dr Yasmin Rashid, Andleeb Abbas and others joined the blind persons and sat with them at the sit-in raising slogans against the government. They provided food and other edibles to the protesters, while PTI workers kept blocking the road.
Later, the Opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed joined the protesters for some time and vowed to support their demands till their demands were not fulfilled. ‘If the demands of the blind people were not accepted then PTI leaders, including myself will remain stay here at the Punjab Assembly tonight,’ said Mian Mehmoodur Rasheed.
He said the continued protests by all segments of the society against the government was a proof of rulers’ inefficiency and particularly the non-implementation of blind quota in government jobs was a slap at the claims of good governance by the PML-N government. He said blind people were special section of the society and deserved to be treated with love. The blind persons also raised slogans against Zaeem Qadri for not fulfilling his promise of arranging meeting of the chief minister. They flayed the Punjab government for not entertaining them at the Model Town secretariat where they had gone to meet the chief minister. At Model Town, they were told that the chief minister was busy elsewhere in some important work and could not see them.