ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Police have temporarily halted the ongoing operation against protesting government employees in a bid to disperse the crowd which was moving towards the Parliament House located at the Constitution Avenue.
The protesters have gathered around D chowk as well as China chowk, while Islamabad authorities have blocked the way towards the Parliament with containers.
Demonstrators started bypassing the containers because of which the police once again had to resort to tear gas shelling to disperse them. Because of the tear gas, some police and Rangers personnel also had to retract for a while.
The protestors have demanded that the containers be removed or else they would remove it themselves.
The federal government employees are demanding a raise in their salaries and had gathered today after their leader Rehman Bajwa and nine others were arrested overnight.
Following the arrests, the government workers in the federal capital had announced they would march towards the Parliament House from Pakistan Secretariat for their demands and the release of their leaders.
The police had resorted to tear gas shelling after they made a move towards the Parliament. The protesters at one point had also encircled Federal Minister for Information Shibli Faraz.
At one point the protesting employees also closed the doors to the secretariat bringing the government machinery to a halt.
At least two dozen protesting employees were taken into custody under Section 16 of the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance (MPO).
The government employees were protesting against the income disparities between various federal government employees. They have been demanding a 40% increase in their salaries.
The protesters have received support from government employees over grade 17, who have also demanded an increase in their salaries.
The All Pakistan Clerks Association and government employees of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Sindh are also supporting the protest.
Meanwhile, Speaking on the matter, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said that the government dealt with the protesters “correctly” and that it was the demonstrators that had “gone back on the agreement.”
“We dealt with this correctly we are increasing the salaries of 95% of employees at an average of 40%,” the minister said.
Rasheed blamed the protestors for going back on the agreement they had made with the federal ministers. He claimed that the government had agreed to increase the salaries of the government employees from grade 1-16.
He said when the government was about to issue the notification in this regard, the protesters demanded that the salaries of employees from grade 17- 22 should also be increased which, he said, will add the burden of billions of rupees to the exchequer.
The interior minister also claimed that the protestors have the support of the officers. He also refused to the demand of increasing the salaries of provincial officers, clarifying that it was not in the domain of the federal government.
“The matter will be resolved [if] they go back to their initial demands,” said the interior minister.
Read more: Present NAB administration has nothing to do with Broadsheet agreement: Javed Iqbal
