By Bureau Report

Copyright dawn

PESHAWAR: The employees of Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday demanded of authorities to ban entry of armed men in the secretariat as they continued their protest for third consecutive day against an aide of the chief minister for ‘storming’ the office of education secretary.

They have been protesting since Monday against the special assistant to chief minister on relief and rehabilitation, Naik Mohammad, for allegedly storming the office of secretary of elementary and secondary education department along with armed men.

The protest has brought the entire government machinery at Civil Secretariat along with attached departments and directorates across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to a standstill.

The demand was made through a resolution that was passed at an emergency meeting of Provincial Management Service (PMC) Association and Secretariat Coordination Council convened to hold deliberations over the situation after the storming of the office of the secretary of elementary and secondary education.

Demand registration of FIR against CM aide for ‘storming’ office of education secretary

“Police deployed at all the gates of Civil Secretariat should do body search of all government servants and other visitors. Arms or other prohibited items should be submitted with police,” said the resolution approved by the employees amid their protest. The employees also demanded of government to keep a record of all people visiting Civil Secretariat for security reasons.

The government servants also demanded ban on the entry of private vehicles to the civil secretariat, saying the employees having their private vehicles should be issued gate passes.

Through the resolution, the protesting government employees also demanded registration of a First Information Report (FIR) against Naik Mohammad.

It is pertinent to mention here that that the incident involving special assistant to chief minister took place last Friday when he allegedly barged into the office of Education Secretary Mohammad Khalid in Civil Secretariat along with armed guards and other persons to push him into withdrawing transfer orders of North Waziristan’s district education officer (female).

An education department’s ‘situation report’ shared with senior government functionaries said that at around 4:30pm on Sept 12, the special assistant to chief minister on relief, Naik Mohammad, accompanied by his armed guards and 10 to 15 private individuals, forcibly entered the office of the education secretary.

An office-bearer of PMS Association told Dawn that they submitted the resolution regarding registration of an FIR with the chief secretary, and the other related to banning entry of armed men into the secretariat with the administration secretary for immediate action. The chairman of PMS Association, Numan Wazir, told Dawn that their protest would continue till the fulfillment of their demands.

He said that banning entry of gunmen into secretariat was need of the hour as such people risked the lives of civil servants.

A senior bureaucrat told Dawn that the chief secretary had also taken serious notice of the attack on the education secretary and protest by employees. “The chief secretary will soon convene a meeting of secretaries’ committee to deliberate on this issue and frame rules to prevent such incidents in future,” he added.

Also, the attached formations of education department including provincial directorate and district education offices wore a deserted look owing to the absence of employees.

The government employees at the offices of divisional commissioners, deputy commissioners and other attach departments also wore black armbands as protest.

On Wednesday, the employees continued their sit-in outside the office of education secretary.

The sit-in started at 10am and concluded at 2pm. The senior and junior bureaucrats delivered their speeches, demanding of the government to provide security to them.

Addressing the sit-in, Education Secretary Mohammad Khalid said that their protest was for the restoration of sanctity of the secretariat. “Everyone visiting government departments at Civil Secretariat is respectable for us, but we will not let anybody disrespect any government servant,” he said.

He demanded of chief minister to de-seat the special assistant on relief.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2025