May 03, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 26, 1429

THATTA, May 2: A peon of DPO office Thatta, Mohammad Hanif Dandal, here on Friday threatened to commit self-immolation if the department failed to pay his outstanding salaries for the last four years and ten months.

The only bread earner of his three siblings, a wife, mother and sister, Hanif was appointed in the police department on January 30, 2003 against a vacant post following the death of one Abdullah Jokhio. The problem cropped up when the district accounts officer Thatta rejected his salary bill on the plea that the said appointment was made during the ban period.

The correspondence continued between the DPO office Thatta and RPO office Hyderabad as well as the office of the provincial police officer Karachi on the subject and, in the meantime, Hanif Dandal kept performing his duty on the assurances extended to him by the officers.

During the entire tenure of his service, as an alternate arrangement to earn bread, he also managed to participate catching fish in night hours. But he seems to be exhausted of doing labour in night and serving the department punctually in day time and sought intervention of senior police officials in clearance of his dues.