After police, protesters clash in Islamabad's Red Zone, govt able to give raise
ISLAMABAD: the govt has agreed to a 20% raise for its employees after talks with representatives of the protesting employees in Islamabad.
Sources were quoted as saying by Geo News that the talks were held at Defence Minister Pervez Khattak's house.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid has instructed the Islamabad administration to release all arrested employees immediately.
Sources say a delegation of the govt employees has been assured of a 20% increase in their salaries and therefore the release of all arrested government employees.
A notification for it's expected today (Thursday).
Khattak, Ahmed and Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan participated within the talks on behalf of the govt .
Red Zone turns into a battle field
The Constitution Avenue in Islamabad became a battlefield Wednesday when the police used force to disperse government employees staging protest seeking increase in their salaries.
The police resorted to baton charge and threw many teargas shells to disperse the agitating employees as tens of protesters were arrested and sent to lockups of various police stations. a minimum of 30 protesting employees were taken into custody under Section 16 of the upkeep of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).
The teargas shelling within the radius of three to five kilometre round the Constitution Avenue was so heavy that the people felt suffocation. All incoming roads including the Islamabad Expressway and Motorway remained closed for hours.
The Islamabad Police fired extensive tear gas at the protesting government employees once they were heading towards the Parliament House. The protesters reached the D-Chowk while the Islamabad authorities blocked the way towards the Parliament House with containers.
According to sources, demonstrators started bypassing the containers and therefore the police once more resorted to teargas shelling to disperse them. due to the teargas, some police and Rangers personnel also had to retract for a short time and fell unconscious.
The protesters demanded that the containers be removed or they might remove them on their own. The federal employees, demanding raise in their salaries, had gathered at the Constitution Avenue after their leader Rehman Bajwa and nine others were arrested overnight.
Following the arrests, the govt workers within the federal capital had announced that they might march towards the Parliament House from the Pakistan Secretariat for his or her demands and therefore the release of their leaders.
The police had resorted to teargas shelling after they made a move towards the parliament. The protesters at one point had also encircled Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz. The protesting employees also closed the doors to the Secretariat, bringing the govt machinery to a halt.
The protesters received support from government employees over Grade 17, who also demanded a rise in their salaries. The All Pakistan Clerks Association and government employees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh also are supporting the protest.
Speaking on the matter, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that the govt addressed the protesters correctly and it were the demonstrators that had gone back on the agreement. “We addressed this correctly, we are increasing the salaries of 95 percent employees at a mean of 40 percent,” the minister when asked about things said. Skeikh Rasheed said the protesters had backed out of the agreement that they had made with the federal ministers. He claimed that the govt had agreed to extend the salaries of the govt employees from Grade 1-16.
He said when the govt was close to issue the notification during this regard, the protesters demanded that the salaries of employees from grade 17-22 should even be increased which, he said, would add burden of billions of rupees to the exchequer. the inside minister also claimed that the protesters had the support of officers. He also refused to the demand of accelerating the salaries of provincial officers, clarifying that it had been not within the domain of the federal . The matter would be resolved if the protesters return to their initial demands, the inside minister said.
Official sources said that there should be a rise of 25 percent within the salaries of officials from grade 1-16 on a billboard hoc basis. They also said that the finance ministry might finalise the proposal by tonight or tomorrow and send it to the prime minister and adviser on finance for approval.
Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) Chairman Maulana Fazlur Rehman while denouncing the arrest of protesting government employees said he accepted the democratic right of the protesters. He said this while addressing an emergency news conference at the Al-Jamiat House, Hyderabad. “We stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the protesters.”
Meanwhile, former president and President of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarians Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned violence and use of teargas on the govt employees and said that it had greatly pained him to ascertain what happened in D-Chowk today. Asif Ali Zardari said that folks who are just demanding a rise in their salaries shouldn't be treated like enemies. He said that he had predicted how Imran Khan would act after coming to power.
He said Imran Khan could do nothing but exploit the people. “Why does it sting the PTI government to permit a rise within the salaries of state employees,” he asked.
He said the PPP raised salaries of state employees despite facing hurdles and difficult situations. “The situation now has become so grim that tiny scale employees have fallen below the poverty level ,” he said. He stated that the country couldn't progress with the economic exploitation of the govt employees.
Also, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari expressed solidarity with the protesting employees and asked the govt to simply accept their genuine demands with none delay. He condemned the shelling and arrests of protesting government employees and asked the govt to simply accept their genuine demands and release all the arrested employees.
Expressing solidarity with agitating government employees, the PPP chairman said that the PTI regime had resorted to highhandedness against the workers rather than taking note of their genuine grievances.
He said the PPP government had doubled the salaries of the govt employees but the PTI government had destroyed the economy through unprecedented inflation rather than giving incentives to the govt employees. Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) strongly criticised the PTI government for torturing and throwing teargas on the protesting government employees.
PML-N vice chairman Maryam Nawaz Sharif slammed the govt by announcing her support to the protesting government employees and declared that the violence against government employees, use of teargas and arrests were cruel tactics of the fake government.
Maryam Nawaz said that despite the very fact that the inflation had increased fourfold , this government during the last three years had not increased one rupee within the salaries of the govt employees. She said the govt had crushed the people, especially government employees, within the mill of inflation.
“We will raise our voice against the rights of state employees and violence against them at every forum, including Parliament,” she announced. Maryam Nawaz demanded immediate release of the arrested government employees also as acceptance of their demands regarding increase in salaries.
Earlier in her twitter message she said the protesting government employees were citizens of Pakistan and therefore the government should stop tackling them violently. PML-N Quaid Mian Nawaz Sharif also condemned the govt for torturing the protesting government employees. He, in his twitter message, said that his heart was bleeding as he saw the police throwing teargas on the protesting government employees.
Nawaz said during the last two and a half years, the inflation and unemployment had increased manifolds leading to putting extreme burden on the common citizens. He said if the people that brought Imran Khan into power would answer till what time the state had in touch this cruelty.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami ameer Senator Sirajul Haq strongly condemned the police crackdown and arrests of protesting government employees, asking the govt to right away address their demands and release those detained.
Meanwhile, Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) strongly condemned brutality and use of force against protesting government employees who were demanding raise in salaries which had been denied by the federal since 2018. PFUJ President Shahzada Zulfiqar and Secretary General Nasir Zaidi in statement urged the govt to carry talks with government employees rather than using high handedness and using force as they were demanding pay raise which that they had been denied since long.
They said, “We stand by the workers and government employees and that we are duty sure to support their legal and constitutional rights and demands.”
A delegation of PFUJ, National Press Club and RIUJ led by former president PFUJ Afzal Butt, President NPC Shakeel Anjum and RIUJ President Amir Sajad Syed is already at the location of protest for showing solidarity with protesting government employees. PFUJ leadership appealed to the management of National Press Club to supply subsidised food from the canteen of the National Press Club and free food for detained government employees.
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