PMS officers’ sit-in ‘to continue till removal of KP chief secretary’

Reject government’s offer to call off protest

PESHAWAR: The Provincial Civil Services (PCS) and Provincial Management Service (PMS) officers on Monday rejected the government’s offer to call off their strike and vowed to continue the protest sit-in till the removal of the chief secretary.

The administration in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has come to a grinding halt as about 700 PMS and PCS officers’ pen-down strike and sit-in entered third week on Monday.The PMS Officers across province and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) from BS-17 to BS-21 gathered on Monday at the lawns of the chief secretary’s office for their daily protest.

Finance Minister Muzzafar Sayyid, who is also member of the cabinet committee formed to resolve the PMS offices-chief secretary impasse, visited the sit-in on behalf of the government committee.

He assured the protesting officers that most of the demands they put forth to the committee would be accepted. He requested them to call off the strike. However, the 30-member core committee of the PCS and PMS officers after deliberations decided to continue the strike till acceptance of their demands, including removal of chief secretary, resolution of administrative issues and PMS/PAS cases pending with the provincial assembly reforms committee.

They are also demanding equitable and just posting on key positions and promotions.Their protest sit-in entered the fourth day on Monday while their symbolic pen-down was in its fourth week.

Like all previous days a number of political leaders and rights groups’ representatives visited the protesting officers to show solidarity with them.  Leader of the opposition in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, Maulana Lutfur Rehman, was among the several lawmakers from different political parties who visited the protestinf officers. .Afzal Shah Khamosh, president of the Mazdoor Kissan Party, delivered a fiery speech against the high-ups in the bureaucracy and the government for turning a deaf ear to the protest by the officers.

The delegation of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) attended the sit-in and endorsed the struggle of the PMS officers, who have termed it as “movement for justice and governance.”

The core committee of the PMS and PCS officers briefed the visiting delegations of the situation in the provincial bureaucracy. They also informed them that the chief secretary had destroyed the administrative fabric of the province.

They apprised the opposition leader Maulana Lutfur Rehman of the status of their case pending before the reforms committee of the assembly and asked him to use his influence to make the House body take up the case that was so crucial for the future of the provincial services and provincial government.

A number of representatives of the PCS and PMS officers and other groups also spoke on the occasion.  .They said they would not accept anything short of the removal of the chief secretary who, they alleged, was the root-cause of the administrative crisis in the province.

They alleged that the chief secretary was using different tactics, including the information department and advertisements to influence the media to black out their movement.The officers also accused the chief secretary of using the same tactics to spread false propaganda to malign the protesting officers and undermine their movement.