PESHAWAR: The sacked employees of different public sector departments took out a procession here on Tuesday and requested the Supreme Court to review its recent decision for their termination from service.

They also called for the formation of a larger Supreme Court bench for the purpose on the plea of the federal government.

Holding banners and placards and led by leaders of the All Pakistan Sacked Employees Coordination Council, the protesters marched from outside the Peshawar Press Club’s premises on the Sher Shah Suri Road to outside the provincial assembly’s building on the Khyber Road.

Atlas Khan, Niaz Wali, Ahmad Khan represented the employees of the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Aurangzeb Khan the Intelligence Bureau, Mohammad Shakeel Azam Khan the State Life Insurance Corporation, Sajid Khan the SNGPL and Sanaullah the National Highway Authority and insisted that the sacked employees did nothing wrong and instead, they performed their duties with utmost honesty.

Take to streets in Peshawar

The protesters said the terminated employees and their families suffered badly due to financial problems caused by their sacking.

They requested the Supreme Court to form a larger bench in line with a petition of the federal government to review its verdict about their termination for reinstatement.

Deciding a petition pending since 2012, the Supreme Court had declared the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Ordinance Act, 2010, illegal on Aug 17, 2021, leading to the removal of over 16,000 employees of different departments and corporations.

The protesters said the sacked employees had suffered psychological problems due to the loss of jobs and had no alternative source of income to support their families.

They said most of such officials were set to retire and hoped to support their families with their pension.

The protesters said if the sacked employees weren’t restored on humanitarian grounds, their children mostly enrolled in educational institutions won’t be able to continue with their studies.

“Our protests will continue until reinstatement to government service,” a protester said.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2021