Members of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) warned on Thursday they would commit ritual suicide outside Chief Minister's Secretariat if the Punjab government did not accept their demands.
Following the government's move to sack over 110 employees of the Local Government Board who had been working there for the past 16 years, the APCA had staged rallies and attempted to approach Governor's House during Wednesday's protest but were forcefully stopped by police. The use of baton charge on the occasion left two protesters injured.
Protest: On Thursday, members of the APCA blocked Sanda Road, adjacent to Civil Secretariat, and shouted anti-government slogans after the government refused to accept their demands. Office-bearers of the APCA, including APCA Central President Muhammad Afzal, APCA Central Information Secretary Sultan Mujadaddi, Haji Muhammad Irshad and others addressed the protesters. The clerks, who had threatened to sell their children for money during Wednesday's protest, delivered on their promise and brought their children with them to the protest.
Children: The children came to the protest fully prepared preparation and used their placards to convey their message to the government. The prominent placards read: "Khadim-e-Ala uncle, when will you sell your children?" "Uncle Zardari, would you also sell Bilawal?" "We need our fathers to be employed instead of sasti roti." Some children used the placards to offer themselves for sale.
One of the children at the protest, Saghira, daughter of Abdul Majeed who was sacked after 16 years as a daily wager of the Local Government Board, said her parents had no option left and had to resort to desperate measures. She said the sasti roti scheme was useless if her family had no money to buy it with. She said the family's survival was not possible without her father's job. Rasheed Ahmed, a clerk who was among those sacked after 16 years of service, said the public had voted for the Sharif brothers with great hopes. He said the brothers might lose public support if they failed to understand the plight of the poor clerks. APCA Central Information Secretary Mujadaddi said the government was paying no attention to the demands of the clerks, adding the clerks had therefore decided to commit suicide on May 13. "Around five of our members would use kerosene to set themselves on fire," he said. The clerks' demands are very reasonable, especially after the salaries of the police officials were doubled, he added. The clerks were resentful of the government's decision to sack all daily wagers at once, he added.
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