KOHAT, Jan 14: The All Pakistan Clerks' Association has threatened that its members will take their protest to the streets if the federal government does not implement its charter of demands by March.

APCA President Haji Fazal Maabood said at a protest meeting here at the KDA Complex on Wednesday that the NWFP government should immediately order payment of utility allowance to clerks. He said the allowance was being paid in Balochistan and Punjab.

Provincial APCA chief Mohammad Aslam Khan demanded that the deduction of group insurance and benevolent fund at increased rate should be stopped and surplus employees should be adjusted. He said downsizing would not be tolerated.

He said the politicians and bureaucracy were concentrating on non-issues like the president's military post and they had ignored the problems being faced by the poor during the last three years. He said the president and the prime minister had failed to address the basic problems of people.

He said the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had also failed to deliver in the NWFP contrary to the expectations of the people and their election slogans. The leaders said they did not have any political demands and both political and military governments had failed to provide relief to the poor.

They said the deprived people were left with no option but to wage a struggle for their rights. District APCA chief Pir Farooq Shah said the health department employees should be provided free X-ray and medical test facilities.