Pakistani police recently launched a crackdown on government employees who were on a sit-in protest at the Provincial Assembly Chowk in the South Asian country's Peshawar city on Friday, media reports said.

Police resorted to using tear gas to disperse the crowd.

Several protesters were reportedly arrested during the protest.

Why are they protesting?

The protest, ongoing for the past four days, was organized by the All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), demanding a 30 per cent disparity allowance in line with federal government employees, instead of the 15 per cent offered by the provincial government, reported The Express Tribune.

The  Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government, earlier this year, announced a 15  per cent disparity allowance based on the 2017 initial basic pay in its provincial budget.

The government employees had rejected it.