Peshawar - Provincial Management Service (PMS) officers have come to the rescue of the arrested employees of the Civil Secretariat as PMS Officers Association representatives met the provincial bureaucracy high-ups on Monday regarding the employees’ arrests as well as the proposed 3% quota for district administrations’ employees in the PMS services. The PMS Officers Association representatives met the KP Chief Secretary, secretary establishment and secretary administration to discuss the issues on Monday, stated the association’s convener Fahad Ikram Qazi. It merits mention here that 16 employees of the Civil Secretariat were arrested during a protest against several demands, including the decision to give a 3% quota to the employees of the district and divisional administrations of the province in PMS. “It was conveyed very clearly that arrest of the staff under 3MPO is very much arbitrary and in violation of fundamental rights. The authorities committed that the matter would be resolved amicably and the staff to be released accordingly,” declared the association office-bearer. As for the issue of granting a 3% share in PMS to the district staff out of the revenue share and other allied matters, the official added that since several other cadres were also seeking a share or quota in PMS service, the government should form a committee to look into all aspects of the matter. “The rest, we agree in principle and support the right of career progression for all the staff of secretariat & districts both being our arms and their progression will improve service delivery. However, dealing with such matters in haste and without proper viability, consultations with stakeholders & O&M study, is bound to backfire and create a crisis,” he added. Meanwhile, All Pakistan Clerks Association KP president Wazir Zada, who also serves as All Government Employees Grand Alliance (AGEGA), told The Nation that the secretariat employees already avail 30% quota in PMS but now they are demanding a further 10% share from the 20% quota of tehsildars of the entire province. “We had moved this demand of 3% quota for employees of the districts in October 2021 and it was approved recently,” he added. He said that it was an injustice that for around 9,000 employees of the Civil Secretariat, the government had allocated a 30% quota in PMS while there had been no PMS quota for around 48,000 employees of the district administration employees of the entire province. “The secretariat employees also receive other allowances which we, the district employees, do not get but we don’t want to make an issue of this. But now we also demand 10% share, from of the 20% quota being availed by secretariat employees,” he added. Meanwhile, the Secretary Establishment Akhtar Saeed avoided commenting on the issue as he neither returned the calls nor responded to text messages, while the Secretary Administration Shahid Sohail also told this correspondent that “he would respond soon on the issue”, but his response was not received till the filing of this report.