Pakistan: Employees of Balochistan University hold sit-in over non-payment of salaries

After staging the sit-in, they marched on the main roads of Quetta over the non-payment of their salaries for the past four months.

Hundreds of teachers and staff members of Balochistan University held a sit-in in front of the Balochistan Assembly on Monday, Pakistan-based Dawn reported. After staging the sit-in, they marched on the main roads of Quetta over the non-payment of their salaries for the past four months. The protesters said that the non-payment of salaries had caused great financial difficulties for them.

They assembled in the university and then took out a rally, which passed through the main Sariab Road, Jinnah Road, Zarghoon Road and then reached Quetta, according to Dawn report. Teachers, along with members of staff of the Balochistan University, set up a camp outside the assembly gate to block the entry of individuals into the premises. However, people used alternative gates to enter the provincial assembly.

Members of the assembly informed Balochistan Assembly speaker retired captain Abdul Khaliq Achakzai about the protest. The speaker formed a five-member committee, including Mir Saddiq Umrani, Mir Ali Madad Jattak, Rehmat Saleh Baloch, Agha Umar Ahmedzai and Wali Muhammad Nourzai to listen to the demands of the protesters, according to Dawn report. The committee held talks with the joint action committee leaders. Informing the committee about their grievances, the protesters said that university employees, including teaching staff, have not received salaries, which caused financial difficulties.

The committee assured the joint action committee that issues relating to their salaries and pensions would be resolved at the earliest. They said that Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti has already approved a grant for universities to resolve financial crises, Dawn reported. The teachers were informed that the funds will be disbursed in the coming days. After the assurances by the house committee, the joint action committee announced to end the protest. However, they said that they will resume the sit-in outside the main gate of the university until the issue of delayed salaries was resolved.

Earlier in March, leaders of the joint action committee, including Professor Kaleemullah Barech, Shah Ali Bugti, Nazir Ahmed Lehri, Fareed Khan Achakzai, and others, on Sunday said that the professors and employees of the University of Balochistan (UoB) have not received salaries and pensions for the past three months, Dawn reported. Leaders of the joint action committee announced that 35 per cent payment in the annual budget for research centres' professors, officers, and employees, as well as the house rent allowance, has not been disbursed yet. (ANI)

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