Srinagar, Aug 4: Contractual teachers, who are on fast unto death for past 6-days, on Thursday, alleged that Government was adopting “divide and rule” policy to break their resolve.
“Instead of solving our problems authorities are giving wrong statements on certain section of media to demoralize us,” President of Jammu and Kashmir College Contractual Teachers Association (JKCCTA) Muhammad Maqbool said. “We won’t budge this time, either government has to accept our demands or kill us,” he said.
Recently the Commissioner Secretary Higher Education, Tanveer Jahan, in an interview to Shehrbeen said that negotiations with the lecturers were “successful” and the department was seriously considering their demands. “Lecturers were satisfied and happy during the recent meeting and I assured them that the department will recommend their case to the Planning and Finance department for further course of action,” she said in an interview.
However lecturers rejected her statement by calling it a ‘dividing tactic’. “Our silence cannot be seen as the agreement; we never accepted her proposals to break our struggle”, Maqbool said.
While talking to Greater Kashmir Tanveer Jahan said the lectures went on strike without following any proper procedure. “They went on strike without giving us time to look into their demands”, she said.
Their demands, she said, were against set rules and it would take time for government to respond. “The new policy takes time to get implemented. They need to understand it,” she said.
The striking lecturers however said they had been observing partial strikes and sit-in protests in the past but the government always turned a deaf ear towards them. “We send memorandums to college principals, concerned DCs and the Education Department before we went to strike,” they said.
Meanwhile, scores of lecturers, who are sitting on indefinite hunger strike at a Press Enclave here, take a glass of water to begin and end their fast. “We had requested district authorities to provide us pure water for ablution so that we can offer prayers but no one paid any heed towards our request,” they said.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 4 Aug 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 4 Aug 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 5 Aug 2011 00:00:00 IST