Protesting officers seek chief secretary’s removal as pre-condition for talks

CM forms committee to resolve the matter

PESHAWAR: The cabinet committee on Thursday could not woo the protesting officers of the provincial civil service cadres to call off their strike and sit-in as the officers vowed to continue their protest till the removal the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief secretary Amjad Ali Khan.

The Provincial Civil Service (PCS) and Provincial Management Service (PMS) officers have been on pen-down strike in the province for the last three weeks.

The officers have also been staging sit-in in outside the chief secretary’s office at the Civil Secretariat since Wednesday. They took this step when the government and top bureaucracy ignored their protest.

Hundreds of officers during their sit-in despite the scorching heat in the lawns of the chief secretary’s office chanted slogans in support of their demands. They also raised slogans against the chief secretary.

The pen-down and subsequent protest sit-in has left the provincial administration literally dysfunctional as the officers from Grade-17 to 19 have joined the sit-in at the Civil Secretariat.

The main bone of contention between the two major groups of PCS/ PMS and the chief secretary seemingly is the disparity in field postings, other key positions and frequency of promotions and other career-progression issues.

It has led to a tug-of-war between the provincial and central civil services officers and is adversely affecting the working of the provincial government in all sectors.

It is the third time during the last one and a half year that the PMS and PCS officers are protesting to press the acceptance of their demands. The provincial civil service cadre officers’ protest also has a sad track-record in the past.

The protesting officers also recalled the past events in their speeches on Thursday. They said that in 1994 when discrimination against the officers went beyond the limit, they gathered in front of the chief secretary’s office where they were baton-charged and one of their colleagues was killed. They said they were forced again after 22 years to gather and raise voice for their rights.

Like the previous day, delegations led by Najmuddin Khan of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and former MNA Munir Orakzai and some members of the provincial assembly belonging to the ruling coalition visited the sit-in camp and assured the officers of their support.

Meanwhile, the chief minister formed a cabinet committee to look into the situation. Senior Minister Irrigation Sikandar Sherpao is heading the committee while Education Minister Atif Khan, Finance Minister Muzaffar Sayyid and Higher Education Minister Mushtaq Ghani are members of the committee.

The committee that met at a short notice invited the representatives of the protesting officers’ associations for talks.The association’s 10-member delegation led by Abdullah Mahsud, Kifayatullah, who is former commissioner Malakand division, Fahad Ikram Qazi and Junaid Khan and others met the cabinet committee at the committee room of the Civil Secretariat.

The delegation briefed the cabinet committee on the administrative and legislative issues being faced by the PCS and PMS officers.

The cabinet committee was informed that the provincial government was faced with an unprecedented governance crisis. The delegation alleged that the root-cause of all this was the chief secretary.

Talking to The News, Fahad Ikram Qazi, spokesman for the officers’ associations, said they had informed the cabinet committee that the provincial government had surrendered its political responsibility to govern the province to the chief secretary in the name of political non-interference.

He said they had set removal of the chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the pre-condition for further talks with the cabinet committee to end their sit-in and pen-down.

The cabinet committee also accompanied the officers’ delegation to the site of the sit-in where the ministers also addressed the gathering and assured the officers that the issue would be tackled fairly.

The committee members informed the protesters that they would take their case to the chief minister in the evening and inform him of the situation that had arisen due to the protest of the officers.