Islamabad: Police in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday baton-charged blind protesters demanding jobs, coinciding with the World Disability Day, local private television channels showed.
The incident occurred when dozens of blind, including a number of highly educated youth, staged a rally on Davis Road to draw attention to their rights.
According to the reports, baton-wielding policemen pounced upon the protesters to stop them from proceeding towards the secretariat of the chief minister of Punjab province of which Lahore is the capital.
Several protesters were injured and one of them was shifted to a hospital, the reports said.
Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) member Abrarul Haq said the violence inflicted on blind protesters was condemnable, adding his party would come out on the roads in protest against the violence.
The incident, first of its kind in Lahore, was widely condemned. Punjab government’s spokesman Zaeem Qadri, speaking to a TV channel, said that five policemen were suspended for manhandling the protesters.
He, however, denied police baton-charged the protesters despite the footage on channels showing such action by police.
The spokesman said an inquiry was launched against policemen involved in the incident.
“We apologise for this incident, which should not have happened,” the spokesman said, adding a delegation of officials would meet with the special persons.
Earlier, Punjab Chief Minister Mohammad Shahbaz Sharif said in a message on the occasion of international disability day, the provincial government has taken several important measures for rehabilitation of special persons.
The chief minister said all available resources were being utilised for the purpose and emphasised every segment of society would have to play its part to help the disabled.
