The employees of Pakistan Secretariat on Friday staged a sit-in outside the Parliament House seeking pay raise on the pattern of the staff of Prime Minister's Office, the President House, the NAB, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), and the judiciary. A large number of employees marched from the Secretariat on the Constitution Avenue and staged a protest outside the main gate of the Parliament House.

The protesters were holding placards inscribed with slogans seeking pay raise. Heavy contingent of police was deployed on the occasion to avert any untoward situation. They said that the government had earlier promised to revise up their salaries by March 5. That promise failed to materialise, forcing the employees to go on strike. The employees of other government departments have already been awarded pay raises, they said.

The protesters said that despite being of the same rank and grade, their remuneration was less than half of what civil servants in other public departments were getting paid. They claimed they had been promised a 120 percent pay raise in prior discussions with official representatives on February 27.