PoK Secretariat employees protest non-payment of allowances

Employees of Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir’s (PoK)  Muzaffarabad Secretariat have been organising protests to demand the payment of their allowances.

One employee said, “Our demand is that we should be given a secretariat allowance along with arrears from January. We also demand that a notification be issued in this regard. The Government can spend money on buying cars. We do not pose obstacles to the government’s expenditure. However, employees should be given their rights.”

Another protester said that while employees in Punjab have received allowances from January they continue to suffer due to non-payment of allowances amid the inflation.

“Employees of the Punjab Secretariat have received allowance from January. However, we continue to call on the government to give the allowance to the employees here. People are facing difficulties due to inflation. We continue to demand that employees be given their rights and allowance be released for employees,” another protester said.

Last week, a group of women protested against the Muzaffarabad government over non-payment of their salaries under the ‘Kamyab Khwateen Programme.’

A woman said, “They can pay crores of rupees to Imran Khan. Can they not give Rupees 13,000 salary to the employees? We have been working hard but we have not received pay for our work. We were given assurance that they will give salary and package during Ramzan. However, nothing was paid to us. Today, we came here to protest, however, the staff pushed us out. We are demanding our right.”

Another woman said, “We did all the work that was given to us, including handicrafts and stitching. The teachers have pushed us out and locked the industry. They threatened us over the payments. We were 226 workers working there and their attendance has been marked in the register. I call on the government to pay us.”