MULTAN -The PTCL workers continued their strike for the third consecutive day on Thursday against Unified Pay Scale (UPS) system as they staged a protest demonstration in front of central exchange. The protesters burnt the copies of UPS orders and offered mock funeral prayer of President Musharraf, former premier Shaukat Aziz and former IT minister Awais Laghari. They pledged to continue their strike until the orders were withdrawn. Holding placards and banners inscribed with their demands, the workers carried out full-throated sloganeering against the PTCL administration. They also blocked the road for a short while as a result of which traffic got disrupted. The protesters locked up the exchange and all offices, suspending official work. Talking to the journalists on this occasion, the protesters said that 31,500 workers were deprived of their jobs by the new PTCL administration while the remaining were being forced to quit. They pointed out that the PTCL lost 1.6 million connections due to poor administration while the customers were being fleeced under the guise of ambiguous packages. They said that the profit ratio of PTCL shrank to mere Rs 12b from previous Rs29b due to its privatisation. They reiterated their demand regarding registration of an FIR against former premier Shaukat Aziz and telecommunication minister Awais Laghari.