QUETTA: A division bench of the Balochistan High Court (BHC), comprising Chief Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Mohammad Kamran Mullahkhail, on Thursday summoned the chief secretary of Balochistan, all deputy commissioners and leaders of the Balochistan Government Employees and Workers Grand Alliance on Friday (today) after an initial hearing on a constitutional petition.

The court issued the order on the constitutional petition filed by the president of the Quetta Bar Association regarding protests by government employees.

The petitioner pleaded in his petition that the provincial government and district administrations were not taking the government employees’ protests seriously and that no step had so far been taken regarding the demand of the workers for increase in their salaries by 25 per cent.

A senior lawyer, Nasibullah Tareen, while appearing before the court on behalf of the petitioner pleaded that the Constitution allowed people to stage protests and sits-in for their rights. But, he added, the government was not taking the protests of the government employees across the province seriously and also not trying to resolve their problems.

He said that the federal government had increased salaries of its employees by 25pc. The Balochistan employees had serious concerns over the provincial government’s attitude of not giving any importance to the workers’ demand for increase in their salaries, he added.

“Despite knowing that all employees and people have equal rights, the provincial government has not taken any step to resolve the issue,” Advocate Tareen argued.

He urged the court to summon the chief secretary, divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners of all the districts for giving an explanation. He also requested that the grand alliance of employees be made a party to the petition.

After hearing the arguments, the division bench issued notices to the chief secretary, divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners, urging them to appear before it on Friday. It also issued an order for making the grand alliance a party to the case.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2021