RAWALPINDI: Teachers, clerical staff, Class-IV employees, technical personnel, and labour organizations jointly announced on Wednesday a long march from PIMS Hospital Chowk to Parliament House against low perks and privileges and inflation on the day the Federal Budget 2026-27 is presented.
Leaders reject token measures
Leaders of the All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), APCA, Punjab Teachers Union, Educators Association, and Pensioners Association - including Shahzad Manzoor Kiani, Basharat Iqbal Raja, Chaudhry Mubashir, Malik Amjad, Shafeeq Bhalwalia, and Ramzan Inqalabi - said they would no longer accept what they described as "token measures" from the government. Speaking to The Express Tribune, the leaders demanded that salaries and pensions be increased in line with inflation and that all employee allowances be substantially enhanced.
Selective austerity questioned
They questioned what they termed the selective application of austerity measures, arguing that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) raises no objections when ministers, members of the National Assembly, and senators receive salary increases running into hundreds of thousands of rupees, yet opposes even modest pay rises for government employees. "Such an approach is no longer acceptable," they said. "If the country is facing a fiscal and economic crisis, why were new expensive aircraft purchased? Government employees and pensioners cannot continue to bear the burden alone."
Demands and protest plan
The employee representatives demanded a 100 per cent increase in salaries and pensions and called for all ad hoc relief allowances granted in previous years to be merged into basic pay scales. They announced that employees from across the country would begin arriving in Rawalpindi on the eve of the federal budget. On budget day, participants will gather at PIMS Hospital Chowk before commencing a long march towards Parliament House ahead of the Finance Minister's budget speech. Upon reaching Parliament House, demonstrators intend to stage a sit-in and will remain there until the government formally accepts their Charter of Demands. The organisers said the protest would include both male and female employees representing a broad spectrum of public-sector departments and pensioners' organisations.
