Hundreds of government -employed staged protests in Islamabad on Wednesday and demanded withdrawal of recently introduced pension reforms, as they say, will have a negative impact on their financial security.
Protesters gathered at the Chowk secretariat and blocked both entrances to the Government Secretariat.
A heavy police presence, including senior officers, was deployed to control the situation, which led to clashes between police and protesters.
Employees called for a termination of what they described as discriminatory policies, including the abolition of double pensions and changes in pension calculation formula.
They also required a 10% increase in disability allowance.
The government, which implemented the reforms on January 1, 2025, claims that changes will reduce financial obligations and bring Pakistan in line with international fiscal standards.
According to the new system, pensions are now calculated based on an average of the last two years of salaries rather than the final salary.
Authorities claim that the new rules will help save billions annually, but protesters insist that the unfair burdens of pensioners who are dependent on government support.
Demonstrations are expected to continue as the negotiations remain stopped.
Earlier, the International Monetary Fund asked about the mechanism of responsibility for officials who have discrepancies in their declarations of activation as the overwhelming majority of government employees still remain exempt from public assets.
The global lender also tried to implement a risk -based verification of the information revealed by the officials and possible sanctions and investigation of the officers whose assets exceed their declared sources of income.
However, due to a very narrow definition of a “civil servant”, however, it is estimated that hardly 25,000 officials’ assets can be passed on even after a change in officials acts as part of the IMF condition for the $ 7 billion package, the government sources added.
The officers of the autonomous bodies, regulatory bodies such as State Bank of Pakistan, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority, Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Provincial Civil Services will still remain free subsequent publication.
The majority of the financial decisions are made by the public employees working in these organizations, which is also reflected in the number and value of the revision objections printed by the auditor in Pakistan.
The IMF delegation also met with the establishment department and discussed the issues related to promotion, posting and responsibility for the officials earning on the basic scale of 17 to 22.
The weight of the delegation was, in addition to only the reveal of the information and to take concert action against the corrupt officers, the sources said.
The meeting was held on the day the federal cabinet approved changes in the 1973 officials.
