Police use tear gas and batons on protesting Sindh teachers marching towards Karachi’s CM House; detained teachers later released
Hundreds of primary school teachers gathered outside the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday under the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association before marching towards the Chief Minister’s House, where police used tear gas, water cannon and batons and detained dozens of protesters who were later released at night.
Police used tear gas, water cannon and batons to disperse protesting primary school teachers in Karachi on Wednesday, detaining dozens of demonstrators who had marched from the Karachi Press Club towards the Chief Minister’s House to press long-standing employment demands.
Hundreds of teachers had gathered outside the press club on the call of the All Sindh Primary Teachers Association (ASPTA), representing primary school teachers from districts across Sindh, including Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Jacobabad, Mirpur Mathelo, Sukkur and Shaheed Benazirabad. After a sit-in outside the press club, they set off towards the Chief Minister’s House to present their demands in person.
The demands at the heart of the protest concern the teachers’ service structure: its restoration, promotions, and the upgrading of pay grades, which the protesters say have been promised for years without delivery. They also want powers over transfers and postings delegated to district-level officers, rather than decided centrally — an issue that affects where teachers are posted and how far they must travel to work.
The march did not get far. A heavy police contingent blocked the route, and when the protesters reached Fawara Chowk, near the press club, police baton-charged them and fired tear gas shells to push them back towards the press club. Water cannon were also used, and the action affected employees working in nearby offices as well as the protesters themselves.
Accounts differ slightly on how many people were detained. Dawn and Pakistan Today put the number taken into custody at 38, while The Express Tribune reported 42 detained. What the reports agree on is that the detained group included the association’s leadership: ASPTA president Ghulam Rasool Mahar and general secretary Aijaz Ali Chandio were among those taken into custody, and Dawn reported that two teachers were injured during the police action.
Police gave their own account of why force was used. South Deputy Inspector General Syed Asad Raza told Dawn that the teachers’ organisation had announced the press club protest followed by a march towards the CM House, and alleged that at around 3:15pm the protesters turned violent, abandoned negotiations and forcibly started advancing towards the CM House. Senior Superintendent of Police South Mahzor Ali told The Express Tribune that the detained men had been held for protesting in the red zone, the high-security area around the CM House.
The detained teachers did not remain in custody long. Dawn reported that all 38 were released at night, and The Express Tribune reported that the protesters were in the process of being released after Karachi Bar Association general secretary Arshad Shar guaranteed on their behalf that they would not protest inside the red zone, with the detained teachers to be handed over to the bar association after filing an undertaking.
The protest did not end with the releases. The protesters announced that their sit-in would continue until the provincial government accepted all their demands, and a later report said teachers awaiting promotions were still staging a protest outside the Karachi Press Club demanding the release of their arrested leaders — a sign that, for the association, the confrontation on Wednesday settled nothing about the underlying dispute.
The episode fits a familiar pattern in Karachi, where the press club is the city’s traditional protest ground and the road towards the Chief Minister’s House is one of its most tightly guarded. Teachers’ groups have used the route before to press service demands, and the authorities have repeatedly treated any move beyond the press club towards the red zone as a line that must be held, with force if necessary.
What happens next now depends on whether the provincial government engages with the service-structure demands or waits the protest out. The teachers have a clear set of asks — restored service structure, promotions, upgraded grades and district-level control of transfers — and a demonstrated willingness to travel from across Sindh to press them. The government, for its part, has so far answered with a police operation and a release secured through an undertaking, not with a public commitment on the demands themselves. Until one side moves, another gathering outside the press club looks likely.
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