RAWALPINDI, May 7: Members of All Pakistan Clerks Association (APCA) on Saturday observed a pen-down strike in all the four provinces and Azad Kashmir, pressing the government to increase their salaries according to the ratio of inflation.

The central president of APCA, Fazal Mabood Khan, and central information secretary, Chaudhry Zafar Ali, told Dawn that more than 2.2 million APCA members observed the pen-down strike in all the big cities including Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar, D.I.Khan, Kohat, Karachi, Sukkur, Quetta etc.

In Rawalpindi, they said, about 3,000 clerks from 28 different departments, including food, forest, soil conservation, poultry, building, education, agriculture engineering, came out of their respective offices and held protest demonstrations and chanted anti-government slogans.

The clerks, who were also joined by government drivers of their respective departments, were holding banners and placards inscribed with slogans highlighting the government’s dismal attitude towards the sufferings of their community and other poor and middle-class people.

The protesters also urged the federal finance minister to announce some relief for the clerks and accept their 13-point charter of demand in this budget as it would further improve the official performances of the clerks and would put no unnecessary burden on the government exchequer.

The angry clerks demanded of the government to increase their salaries according to the ratio of inflation, upgrade their pay scales and provide them house rents and travel allowance.

Mr Khan said though the federal finance minister, Shaukat Aziz, had confessed that the ratio of inflation had increased in the last few years, the government was reluctant to increase their salaries accordingly.

He said it had become impossible for government employees, especially clerks, to make both ends meet with their limited salaries.

He said according to the present inflation the salary of a clerk should be atleast Rs9,000.

Mr Khan said they would hold strikes in three steps. Today (Saturday)’s strike was the first part.

He said from June 10, the APCA would hold three-day country-wide pen-down/hunger strikes in front of government buildings and various press clubs.

He said this would be followed by a long march on June 18 by clerks from all over the country towards the Parliament House.