Pens back up: PCS officers suspend strike after tough talks

Mushtaq Ghani says off icers have govt surety that demands will be looked into

PESHAWAR: Officers of the Provincial Civil Services (PCS) suspended their strike on Tuesday after negotiations were carried out with the Cabinet committee at Chief Minister House.

A core committee of the protesting officers of the provincial bureaucracy held a meeting with the committee and presented their demands. After deliberations, the committee assured the officers that their demands—excluding the removal of the chief secretary of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa—will be taken up and addressed.

Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Information and Higher Education Mushtaq Ghani told The Express Tribune negotiations were successful and the strike had been called off.

“We have accepted their demands and have given them our surety.”

However, the officers’ representatives said they have temporarily suspended their strike for the sake of the government.

“The core committee of PCS officers will be in regular contact with the ministers’ committee to resolve the issues amicably,” stated a press release. “However, if the outcomes are not desirable, the core committee will review the decision and may resort to a strike.”

Promises

“Their demands related to discrimination in transfer/postings will be addressed,” Ghani said. “Their case in the K-P Assembly—with the subcommittee of the standing committee on law reforms—will be resolved,”

The committee, under the supervision of Minister for Irrigation Sikandar Sherpao assured that their issues would be resolved in the provincial assembly within a week or 10 days.

“Their demands are not of such a nature that cannot be resolved,” Ghani said. He added most of the issues were created by misconceptions and the establishment secretary, who was present at the meeting, told them they can visit her office to talk about matters.

Ghani said instead of giving recommendations, the committee managed to obtain a written assurance from Establishment Secretary Humaira Ahmed that the issues of the officers will be resolved.

All but one

“The committee had no mandate to remove the chief secretary,” he said.

The CS’ removal was one of the prerequisites to talks and the provincial officers had announced they will not take any orders coming from his office.

According to Ghani, the committee would write a letter to the governor for the postings of the provincial cadre as political agents in Fata. Currently, all seven political agents of the agencies are officers of the Pakistan Administrative Services (PAS), the federal cadre.

The committee assured them enquires started against officers of the provincial cadre would be completed in a specific timeframe so that their promotions are not affected by long-running and unending procedures.

PCS officers started their complete strike last Monday and held sit-ins. Their demands included the removal of Chief Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, resolution of a case of PMS against PAS in the assembly and end to all administrative discrimination and victimisation of provincial officers.

The chief minister formed a four-member committee of the K-P Cabinet, including Minister for Elementary and Secondary Education Atif Khan, Minister for Finance Muzaffar Said along with Ghani and Sherpao. The committee was tasked with negotiating with protesters to end their strike.

Insiders said Sherpao requested the officers to end their strike after the committee’s assurance to address their issues.

“We wanted to continue the token strike for four hours a day, but Sherpao requested us to suspend the strike and go back to offices because the committee will make sure that all the issues are fixed before Ramazan,” an insider said.

He added the committee requested the strike be ended as it was affecting the province and spoiling the image of the provincial government. The officers suspended the strike after these assurances.

Meanwhile, the chief minister has approved the summary of IT staff who were demanding upgradation from grade 12 to grade 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 25^th, 2016.