Longstanding demands: Clerks observe nationwide pen down strike

S&GAD Administration Secretary assured APCA’s COD had been forwarded to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for approval.

LAHORE:

Clerks observed a pen down strike across district headquarters offices nationwide on Thursday on the call of the All Pakistan Clerks’ Association.

APCA members gathered at Nasser Bagh and marched to the Charing Cross where they staged a sit-in and raised slogans against the government. Traffic on The Mall remained at a standstill for three hours due to the sit-in that went on despite heavy rain.

The APCA members called off the sit-in after S&GAD Administration Secretary Suqrat Aman Rana placated the protesters and assured them that a summary of the APCA’s charter of demands had been forwarded to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for approval.

APCA Punjab Chapter president Muhammad Sultan Mujaddadi said the strike had been observed because the government had not accepted the association’s charter of demands. He said black flags were hoisted on all official premises in the province and banners were displayed outside all district department offices.



Mujaddadi said APCA would stage a larger protest in front of the Civil Secretariat if the government did not accept their demands within 10 days by issuing an official notification to this effect. He said the association had gotten the impression that the chief minister was busy playing God. Mujaddadi said Sharif should desist from doing this as he liked to portray himself as the servant of the people. He said the chief minister should accept the association’s demands if there was any truth in the image that he had cultivated.

Members of the All Pakistan Local Government Federation, the All Pakistan Paramedical Association, the Public Works Department Workers’ Union, the Fire Service Employees’ Association, the Evacuee Trust Board Workers’ Association and clerks from all provincial departments also participated in the sit-in. 

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2015.