KARACHI:
Public-sector employees in Punjab, totalling 1.2 million, are now fed up with the provincial government’s delaying tactics as regards fulfilment of their longstanding demands. The activists and protesters belonging to Young Teachers Association, All Pakistan Clerks Association, All Government Employees Grand Alliance, Young Doctors Association and municipality organisations have announced a protest march from Town Hall to Civil Secretariat Lahore on April 23 (today) to press for their demands.
Earlier in February, a large number of employees had staged a sit-in outside the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Lahore. However, the protest was called off on its 10th day only after the government had assured that the employees’ demands would be met. A committee was formed to discuss and meet the demands, but nothing happened. Then on March 31, the employees’ organisations once again gave a protest call, only to be withdrawn voluntarily on the government’s request based on tense circumstances caused by the American-Israeli war against Iran. The government sought a week’s time to take up the employees’ demands, but that too passed without causing any stir.
That there is nothing unreasonable or unfair about the employees’ demands goes without saying. What the employees have been fighting for includes: reversal of the June 2, 2024 notification that reduced pensions and gratuities by 40-45%; restoration of the widow’s lifetime pension; restoration of rule 17-A; regularisation of contract employees; 30% disparity reduction allowance in line with the federal policy; and the ill-founded outsourcing policies in the health and education sector.
The sense of deprivation is so deep that even women employees have joined the protests this time. The employees are upset because the government continues to renege on its promises. It shows that the government is just testing the patience and passion of the employees, and the April 23 march is going to prove that neither has waned. The protest march is meant to register the reservation and anger against the Punjab government’s failure to address the concerns of its employees.
M Nadeem Nadir
Kasur City
