ISLAMABAD: The federal capital presented the look of a “battlefield” on Wednesday as the government employees took to the Constitution Avenue to protest against the non-increase in their salaries since the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power, which led to violent skirmishes between the police and protestors.
Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqaat, who was assigned to deal with the protestors, miserably failed to manage the situation as protestors in huge numbers were first allowed to assemble in Pakistan Secretariat, located in the Constitution Avenue, adjacent to Red Zone, then the police used force and resorted to baton-charging and shelling that led the situation to slip out of hands.
The protesters openly accused the deputy commissioner of mishandling the situation, saying they were there to hold a peaceful protest, but the DC and other officials of the Islamabad Capital Territory Administration (ICTA) directed the police to use force against the protesters.
They retaliated and locked Q-Block main gate of the Pakistan Secretariat as a result scores of employees were confined to the secretariat.
Heavy shelling by the police on the orders of the DC Islamabad resulted in serious injuries caused to the protesters as scorers of protesters had to be hospitalised.
The condition of those present on the spot including media personnel also deteriorated due to heavy teargas shelling.
Dozens of protesters were brutalised by the cops and stuffed into police vans.
The leaders of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) and its allied bodies that formed the All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA) of protesting employees were already arrested by the police in overnight raids at their residences.
The federal government employees of different departments from all the four provinces are participating in the protest.
They said that if their demands were not met and their leaders Rehman Bajwa, Banaras Jadoon, Jawed Sangerha and others were not released, and Section 16 of Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO) is not withdrawn, more people from all the four provinces will converge in Islamabad.
They warned that they would march towards the Parliament House from Pakistan Secretariat, if this remained the attitude of the government with drastically underpaid employees, who are hardly making both ends meet since the PTI has come into power.
The sources said that these leaders were kept in “torture cells” somewhere in Bhara Kahu, but it could not be verified through independent sources.
The protesters chanted slogans “Sheikh Rashid murdabad, and Hafeez Sheikh murdabad”, and staged a sit-in inside Q-Block, demanding immediate release of their captured leaders besides acceptance of their demands.
The Interior Minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, claimed that the government was ready to increase the salaries of government employees from grade 1 to 16, but he said, “the protesters demanded increase in salaries from grade 1 to 22”.
However, the protesters strongly denied this claim, saying the minister is digging false story for face saving.
Unnerved by the situation, a visibly-confused ICTA and Islamabad Police placed containers at the entry and exit points of the Constitution Avenue to block the entry of more protesters.
The ICTA called in Rangers when the situation ran out of hand, due to heavy shelling as a result of the DC Islamabad’s negligence.
The protesters also pressed for immediate resignations of the interior minister, the DC Islamabad, as well as the finance minister, accusing them of misleading the prime minister and higher ups about their genuine demands to increase the salaries in the wake of unprecedented inflation.
The protesters at one point also encircled the vehicle of Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz.
He stepped out of the vehicle in a bid to pacify the angry protesters, but they refused to listen to him, saying “mere verbal assurances are not enough as their protest will end only if the notification regarding not less than 40pc salary increase is issued”.
The protesting employees also shut the doors of the secretariat, bringing the government machinery to a halt.
When the tension between the protesters and the police was at its peak, the prime minister who had gone to Kallar Syedan in Rawalpindi to launch second phase of payments distribution under Ehsaas Kafaalat Programme and on his way back, he was informed that the road leading to the Prime Minister’s Office was blocked, leaving the premier unable to reach his office, said the sources.
It could not be confirmed where he was moved due to security reasons.
The protesters have received support from government employees over grade 17, who have also demanded an increase in their salaries.
The All Pakistan Clerks Association and government employees of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab, and Sindh are also supporting the protest.
Several government employees are protesting against the government over different issues, which include All Pakistan Teachers Association calling for regularisation of contractual employees, Wapda, who are protesting against privatisations of Discos also held protests at D-Chowk, and outside the National Press Club.
Meanwhile, the PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the arrests of and violence against the protesting government employees.
In a statement issued here, he said that the “‘selected’ government should accept the legitimate demands of the employees and the arrested workers should be released”.
Bilawal said the government instead of heeding to the demands of the employees had resorted to reliance on the use of power against them.
He claimed that while the PPP during its government had doubled government employees' salaries, the PTI government instead of giving concessions to the workers had caused a "record increase" in inflation and "destroyed the economy".
PML-N vice president Maryam Nawaz called upon the government to stop use of force against “unarmed and innocent government employees” who are demanding nothing but increase in their salaries.
"For God's sake, stop this merciless torture," she tweeted.
"Do not make the innocent government employees suffer from tear gas, shelling and baton-charging. They are not enemies but poor Pakistanis who are asking for their rights," she added.
The sources said that PM Khan is considering accepting the demands of the protesting employees besides sidelining Sheikh Rashid, after he threatened the protesters with dire consequences during the negotiations.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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