THATTA: The Sindh council of the All Pakistan Clerks Association (Apca) has announced countrywide protest on June 8 to press its demands of a 100pc rise in salaries and pension.

The announcement was made at its meeting held at Keenjhar Lake resort on Friday. Members of the council coming from across Sindh unanimously passed a resolution, after a long discussion.

Maqbool Mahar and Abdul Karim Bhand, the president and senior vice president of Apca, respectively, said after the meeting that the campaign would be started with sit-ins in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad and the Karachi Press Club on June 8.

The main demand, they said, was 100pc increase in the wages and perks, as well as pension, of clerks. They said that due to an unprecedented inflation that had already resulted in 150pc to 200pc hike in the prices of all essential commodities, the wages being paid to clerks were not sufficient even to make the two ends meet. They said they were not able to afford even primary education of their children.

The meeting was attended by all prominent Apca leaders including Haji Ashraf Khushik, Ashraf Khan Bozai, Abdul Wahab Kagazi and Khamiso Khuwaja.

They said clerks across the country were living a miserable life due to their peltry salaries while pensioners were in an even poor condition.

The resolution warned that if the authorities did not consider their demands despite the June 8 protest, then Apca would extend its protest by launching a sustained campaign across the country which would include demonstrations, rallies, sit-ins and even hunger strike unto death because it was a matter of their survival.

Published in Dawn, May 28th, 2023