Pakistan: Balochistan University employees hold protest over non-payment of salary

The teaching and non-teaching staff of Balochistan University held a march on different roads of Pakistan’s Quetta and staged a sit-in protest over non-payment of their salary for the past four months, Pakistan-based Dawn reported.

The protesting faculty and other staff members raised questions about why funds were not being released when funds for all other departments were always released, according to Dawn report. The protesting faculty and other staff members urged the Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfraz Bugti and members of his parliamentary committee to fulfil their promises by releasing the funds.

Earlier this month, hundreds of teachers and staff members of Balochistan University held a sit-in in front of the Balochistan Assembly, 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.