CHITRAL: The provincial management service (PMS) officers observed a token strike here on Tuesday by wearing black armbands to protest the exclusion of any officer of their genre in the Prime Minister’s Task Force on civil reforms, and predominance of Pakistan Administrative Service (PAS) officers in the forum.

Talking to mediapersons, they said the composition of the task force was highly objectionable and they feared that they would be subjected to injustices in the reforms process.

Expressing their anguish and astonishment over the exclusion of the PMS officers from the task force, they said how there was not a single officer of the provincial cadre from any province to be in the task force.

They feared that the interests of the PMS officers won’t be reflected in the recommendations of the task force as they did not expect any fair deal from the PAS officers who had left no stone unturned in subjugating the officers of provincial cadre.

Meanwhile, MNA Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali has said the National Highway Authority has agreed to keep the Lowari tunnel open for the public transport for 18 hours a day from the present eight hours only.

Talking to Dawn by telephone on Tuesday, he said the passengers suffered a lot due to the tunnel’s closure for 16 hours a day for public transport. He said he had taken up the issue with the NHA chairman.

He said a proper notification to this affect will be issued in a couple of days.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2018