Peshawar: Officers at the Pakistani secretariat recently announced they will observe a pen-down strike from Feb 6 against what they said discrimination in grant of the executive allowance.

The decision to observe the strike was made at a meeting of the officers held in the Planning Commission. The participants suspected a deliberate move to delay in the issuance of a notification, reports Dawn News.

“The finance secretary had informed senior officers that the prime minister had already granted approval that all officers would be given 150 percent of their basic salary as the executive allowance,” said a senior officer while talking to The Dawn.

Former finance minister Mifta Ismail had approved the allowance, 150 percent of basic salary, to the ex-cadre officers and those belonging to all groups from the start of the current fiscal year.

However, the notification issued by the finance ministry on July 19, 2022, allowed the facility only to officers of OMG and PAS group, triggering reaction from the officers belonging to other groups.

There are a total of 1,800 officers from grade 17 to 22 in the secretariat, some 1,200 have been granted the raise and only 600 are remaining and as a result protests have been held against the discrimination.

On December 7, 2022, Finance MinisterSenator Ishaq Dar had assured the officers that the matter would be resolved within a week.