PESHAWAR: Police on Tuesday fired tear gas and used water cannon to disperse the protesting government employees outside Assembly Chowk demanding increase in salaries. According to details, employees of several directorates of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government held a protest and boycotted offices outside the building of the provincial assembly here. The protesters were carrying placards and banners inscribed with slogans in favour of their demands.

The police used tear gas and water cannons when the demonstrators tried to disturb traffic on main Khyber Road by staging a sit-in there. The protestors said that the government is turning a blind eye towards employees of directorates and claimed that the government has not fulfilled its promise of ending disparities between salaries of employees of different departments.

The protestors further said that employees of directorates do more work compared to their colleagues in secretariat and other departments and demanded the government to give them special allowance with immediate effect. Meanwhile, the leaders of different political parties strongly condemned the use of force against government employees, peacefully demonstrating for their legitimate demands.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021