LAHORE – Things have further worsened on the Punjab’s governance arena, as the provincial management service (PMS) officers and the district management group (DMG) officers stick to their guns after the civil court granted bail to 73 provincial officers on Saturday. As a show of strength, hundreds of provincial service officers from the districts and the civil secretariat gathered at the city courts to receive their colleagues arrested from within the premises of the civil secretariat on Friday. They chanted slogans against the DMG and for their colleagues, and showered flowers on them as they came out of the police van. The supporters included female officers, some of whom were also suspended along with other senior officials of various departments.
Addressing a charged crowed after getting bail, PMS Officers’ Association President Rai Manzur Nasir said that the officers would keep fighting against the injustice meted out to them. He said the government would itself reinstate the suspended officers to the service. He further said that the several meetings held to resolve their issues did not yield any result. “We only demand revision of the inter-provincial coordination committee (IPCC) formula 1993 and repatriation of the DMG to the federal government”, said Nasir The routine working was severely affected in the civil secretariat as a majority of the provincial service officers remained absent from work and only the lower staff and the DMG officers attended the offices. Several DMG officers, seeking anonymity, condemned the arrests and registration of FIRs against their “colleagues”, saying “things should not have come this far”. “If they have some grievances, they should be addressed through negotiations since such actions are detrimental to both groups of officers who have to work in coordination,” they said. Another senior officer said, “It is such a turning point for both the groups as the magistracy is being revived in the province which will be shared by both groups.”
However, the DMG high ups reiterated the old stance that major demands of the provincial service officers had already been met and the law “will take its course” if anyone disrupted the government’s business. Meanwhile, keeping the apprehension in view, Punjab Home Department imposed Section-144 in and around Punjab Civil Secretariat, Poonch House, Old P&D, P&D Building, Board of Revenue, Communication and Works, Irrigation, Management and Professional Departments. The Punjab Home Department also directed the City District Government administrator to extend the order dated March 18 with effect from March 21 to March 27. Services Secretary Sikandar Sultan Raja said many officers had received the show-cause notices while others had been dispatched to their mailing addresses.
He said a stipulated one-week time had been granted to the accused officers to clarify their position. He said the accusations had been leveled with evidence and those unable to justify their action will be treated as per the law. “We have even received written submissions from several PMS officers who do not want to be a part of the strike”, he said.
Punjab government’s spokesman Senator Pervaiz Rasheed said that 90 percent of PCS officers’ demands had already been met. He said those (PMS) officers were promoted in the last two years which were not possible even in the last ten years and their promotion courses and appointments were also unprecedented. He added that certain other demands would have to pass through some process. He said that they were government officers, not trade unionists. “They are challenging the writ of the government and the secretariat which is symbolically government’s writ,” he said. He said one who indulged in “such activities” would be dealt with “an iron hand”, be that even the senior most officer. “My sympathies have been with the PCS officers as I was a part of the meetings to resolve their issues, but their act is totally unjustified and now the government has decided to deal them as per law,” he concluded.
