Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
The federal capital was turned into a war zone on Wednesday as government employees, protesting for a pay rise, clashed with police while attempting to enter the restricted Red Zone.
The police fired tear gas at the protesting employees heading towards the Parliament House located on the Constitution Avenue.
The Srinagar Highway was blocked with containers in order to limit the movement of the protestors but the government move caused a massive traffic jam.
Earlier, employees of the Federal Directorate of Education had reportedly blocked the main Srinagar Highway, resulting in gridlock on both the tracks of the highway as well as affecting the traffic in the rest of the city. The strike brought government affairs in ministries, departments, and divisions to a standstill.
During a media briefing, a three-member government committee, headed by Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak, said that the matter will be sorted out amicably and with mutual understanding.
Khattak stated that the committee was holding talks with the employees and had agreed on a number of steps including increasing their salaries.
He said the government was prepared to extend relief to the employees in the form of a special allowance till the next budget is presented, explaining that the recommendations of the pay and pension commission would be incorporated in the next budget.
The minister stated that the employees had earlier settled for an increase in salaries of employees of grades 1 to 16. However, yesterday, the employees demanded an increase in salaries for all grades, he added.
Employees belonging to many government ministries including the Secretariat, Cabinet Division and Kohsar Complex have all refused to go to the office, resulting in the closure of government offices.
Meanwhile, when the protesters reached the “D Chowk” they found the way towards the Parliament blocked with containers. They started bypassing the containers because of which the police once again
resorted to tear gas shelling to disperse them.
Because of the tear gas, some police and Rangers personnel also had to retract for a while. The protestors have demanded that the containers be removed or else they will
remove it themselves.
Following the arrests, the government workers in the federal capital had announced they will march towards the Parliament House from Pakistan Secretariat for their demands
and the release of their leaders.
The police had resorted to tear gas shelling after they made a move towards the Parliament. The protesters at one point had also encircled Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz. At one point the protesting employees also closed the doors to the secretariat bringing the government machinery to a halt.
At least two dozen employees were taken into custody under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance. The protesters have received support from government employees over grade 17, who have also demanded an increase in their salaries. The All Pakistan Clerks Association and government employees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh are also supporting the protest.
Speaking on the matter, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed told a news channel that the government dealt with the protesters “correctly” and they it was the demonstrators that
had gone back on the agreement.
“We dealt with them correctly we are increasing the salaries of 95% of employees at an average of 40%,” the minister told a news channel when asked about the situation.
Rasheed blamed the protestors for going back on the agreement they had made with the federal ministers. He claimed that the government had agreed to increase the salaries of
the government employees from grade 1-16.
He said when the government was about to issue the notification in this regard, the protesters demanded that the salaries of employees from grade 17- 22 should also be
increased which, he said, will add the burden of billions of rupees to the exchequer.
