Awaiting remuneration: Teachers hold sit-in, demand overdue salaries

Threaten to reassemble within a week if not appeased.


Our Correspondent October 08, 2013
“We are being treated like fools,” said Akhtar Hussain, a teacher. PHOTO: FILE

GILGIT: At least 183 school teachers held a protest in Gilgit on Tuesday over non-payment of dues.

At about 9.00am, men and women assembled outside the office of the chief secretary to stage a sit-in. After some time, they moved the protest to outside the Chief Minister’s House and demanded payment of their salaries. Sporting banners in their hands, the protesters refused to budge till their demands were accepted.

Demonstrators included those sacked in May by the education department, which termed their appointments illegal saying the recruitments from 2010 to 2013 were made without formal tests or interviews.

However, the teachers later filed a petition in the Supreme Appellate Court of Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and were reinstated within the month. But though the teachers have won the legal battle, they have not received their salaries for the past 10 months.



“We are being treated like fools,” said Akhtar Hussain, a teacher. “Despite various commitments, we have not been paid for the past 10 months. These people have cheated us so many times that we cannot trust them anymore now.”

As the demonstration dragged on, Adviser to the Chief Minister Muhammad Musa negotiated with the protesters on behalf of the regional government and assured them of settling the issue very soon.

Eventually, the protesters dispersed peacefully, saying they were doing so conditionally and would reassemble within a week if their demands were not met.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 9th, 2013.

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