KARACHI:
Recently, the federal government employees protested in Islamabad for days asking for a raise in their salaries to keep up with the crushing price hike in the country. The protest was initially dealt with by force with law enforcers using teargas, making quite a scene in the capital city. However, the government eventually gave in when the PM, on the recommendations of a hastily formed committee, announced an increase in salaries of federal government employees from grade 1 to 19 by 25%, to be added to pay scales in the upcoming budget.
It is not a good tradition that the government is not proactive in taking the right decisions and only takes reactive measures when a group turns to protests. This can prompt the provincial government employees, whose salaries have not been increased, to adopt the same route. Maybe the provincial governments should do something before it turns ugly. Most importantly, the lack of timely government steps puts some groups at a huge disadvantage. For example, old pensioners are most impacted by inflation as most of them have health issues and live out of limited income. Moreover, they are unable to stage protests and rallies to press for a raise in their pensions.
I believe the recent step by the government, while beneficial for the serving employees of the federal government, is discriminatory and unfair with provincial employees as well as pensioners at both levels of the government. I believe the government should ensure fairness among all government employees and pensioners. Also, it must take serious steps to curb inflation and strengthen the economy rather than taking intermittent reactionary steps to fend off protests.
Raja Shafaatullah
Islamabad
Published in The Express Tribune, February 17th, 2021.
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