HYDERABAD: Hundreds of Sindh government employees gathered outside the local press club on Thursday to lodge their protest against pension reforms policy and demand its reversal.

The protest was organised under the aegis of the Sindh Employees Alliance (SEA), which has started and pen-down and tools-down strike under its five-day campaign against the new policy.

Representatives of various unions from health, education and other departments spoke to the protesters.

SEA Chairman Mohammad Ashraf Khaskheli, who is also president of the Government School Teachers Association, urged the protesters to be ready to join the planned sit-in outside Bilawal House in Karachi on Oct 6 in a large number. He said there are 600,000 registered Sindh government employees. Perhaps, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is not aware of the facts, he added.

He said the campaign had actually been started in June and now it was taking a different turn against the government’s pensionary reforms policy which was announced recently.

He said the PPP had taken votes from teachers in the name of Benazir Bhutto, who always used to respect teachers.

Mr Khaskehli lamented that the Sindh government had reduced commutation / gratuity from 63.5pc to just 15pc, showing a deficit of 47pc. He pointed out that the newly-recruited government employees would be getting nothing.

He said the employees appointed in the past were heading for superannuation and at this stage they were facing the serious issue of reduction in commutation / gratuity which was their major asset because depending on the allowances, most of them planned weddings of their children or pilgrimage after retirement.

He explained that employees’ family members would not be getting any help now, otherwise, the employees banked on the money after retirement for meeting their petty expenses.

He termed it a direct violation of the 1973 Constitution that ensures fundamental rights. He said that in November 2024, a notification was issued in which the concept of contributory pension was introduced for which the share of employee and government was worked out at 10pc and 12pc, respectively. He said that it was a concept that was applicable in the developed world where people had access to so many basic facilities either free of cost or on highly subsidised rates.

He said the federal government paid 70pc Disparity Reduction Allowance (DRA), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 60pc, Balochistan 60pc and Azad Kashmir 60pc, but the Sindh government paid nothing under this head. He stated that government employees, mostly from the health and education departments, used to perform multiple duties like enumeration exercises in census, election duties etc.

He deplored that the government felt comfortable to increase ministers’ salaries by 400pc and parliamentarians’ by 200pc, but was shying away in the case of government employees. He pointed out that judicial officer also got Rs2.7m in pension. Group insurance was also denied to the employees, he said.

He said the government had shattered the dreams of the employees through the so-called ‘reforms’. Now, he said, it was only leave preparatory to retirement (LPR) that was to be done away with by the government.

He was critical of those employees who preferred to stay at homes but were quick to express their thoughts on ridiculous arguments of making ‘stage of this programme on the other side of road’ instead of joining the protest and raising voice.

He urged the employees to convince their colleagues to join the protest on Oct 6 because if they didn’t turn up in large numbers, the government would give effect to that policy.

The others who spoke at the protest included Zahid Kaka, Mehmood Chohan, Dildar Channa, Ali Ahmed Mangan, Abdul Qayoom Shaikh, Munir Halepoto and Naeem Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2025