PESHAWAR: Awami National Party activists and Utility Stores Corporation employees on Monday held a joint protest against the federal government’s decision to close down the utility stores, leading to sacking of USC workers.

The protesters, who gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club, were holding banners and placards inscribed with demands for reinstatement of the USC employees. They also shouted slogans in support of the sacked workers.

ANP provincial general secretary Hussain Shah Yousafzai and party spokesperson Arsalan Khan Nazim expressed solidarity with the employees.

On the occasion, Mr Yousafzai said that the closure of utility stores was tantamount to economic murder of employees and their families.

Fired employees take to streets in Peshawar, Bannu

“Utility stores were the only means of providing cheap and quality essential commodities to common man,” he said.

Mr Yousufzai said the federal government was bent upon ‘snatching’ even the last morsel of bread from the poor through its ‘anti-people’ policies. The closure of utility stores, he said would render thousands of employees jobless.

He said instead of creating more employment opportunities, the government was bent upon snatching jobs from thousands of its employees. “The government is increasing unemployment, which is condemnable. The decision to close down utility stores should be withdrawn immediately.”

“ANP expresses solidarity with the USC employees, and it will support all their legitimate demands,” he promised.

Meanwhile, USC employees in Bannu held a demonstration against their sacking.

The protesters took out a rally from the USC regional office and converged at Jaman Road Chowk. Led by the utility stores corporation union regional president Pir Ismail Shah, the participants of the rally held placards inscribed with their demands and raised slogans against the government’s ‘rightsising’ policy.

Addressing the protesters, union members, including Pir Ismail, Waseeullah Khan, Haji Mumtaz Marwat, Iftikhar Khattak and Haji Shah Nazeer Khan, described the termination of 3,000 daily wagers their economic murder.

They said USC was an autonomous body and it paid billions of rupees in taxes to the government every year. They condemned the grant of a 400 per cent pay raise to the parliamentarians.

“The national kitty has sufficient funds for increasing the salaries of parliamentarians but there is nothing in the exchequer for poor employees,” they regretted.

They said that the then PPP government had established USC and now the party leadership should play an effective role to save its employees from being shown the door The protest leaders said that they stood by the sacked workers and would go to every extent for their reinstatement. They warned the USC employees would expand their agitation if the government did not reinstate them.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2025