PCS officers warn of pen down strike

PESHAWAR: The PCS Officers Association has warned the government to launch a pen-down strike throughout the country if the federal government did not accept their demands, including the appointments of provincial cadre officers on the provincial posts.

Speaking at a news conference in Peshawar Press Club on Monday, the association coordinator Fahad Ikram Qazi said their officers had been performing duties for the last 16 days while wearing black armbands to press the government for the acceptance of demands.

He said the authorities had not bothered to listen to their genuine demands. Fahad Ikram Qazi said the federal government had formed civil services reforms committee to find a solution to problems of the officers but the provincial officers have no representation in the committee.

"We have reservations over that committee. We have also written letters to Prime Minister Imran Khan but nothing was done for us," he said. He observed that the federal government was appointing officers to the vacant provincial posts, which he said was illegal. He demanded the immediate abolition of the joint formula, under which the federal government was appointing officers to provincial posts.

The association coordinator believed that the chief minister and chief secretary were not taking notice of the situation and they would launch a pen-down strike if the ongoing appointments to the provincial posts were not stopped.