Life in Peshawar was thrown into disarray on Monday after employees of the Capital Metropolitan Government launched an indefinite strike over unpaid salaries and pensions.
With the walkout, all municipal services—including sanitation, waste disposal, and other civic operations—ground to a halt. Offices under the metropolitan administration were locked, as workers vowed not to return until their financial dues are cleared.
The strike was announced following a meeting of the United Municipal Workers Union, chaired by Malik Muhammad Naveed and attended by key office bearers, including General Secretary Syed Waqar Ali Shah, President Ismail Khan, Finance Secretary Khawaja Aftab Elahi, and several senior leaders. The union has also planned a protest rally in the city to press their demands.
Speaking at the meeting, Naveed said the crisis had pushed thousands of low-paid employees and their families to the brink. “Our households are facing starvation, while aged retirees, widows, and orphans run from office to office in vain, unable to access their pensions,” he said. He criticised senior officials for continuing to indulge in extravagant expenses while employees are deprived of their most basic rights.
Union leaders further alleged that around Rs7 million per month was being spent on daily-wage workers who, they claimed, were neither needed nor regularly seen on duty. “This unnecessary expenditure is draining the limited resources of the metropolitan government while genuine employees are left unpaid,” the representatives said.
They warned that the strike would remain in force indefinitely until the government releases salaries and pensions, stressing that workers had no option but to resort to such drastic action.
The protest in Peshawar follows months of growing resentment across Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s local bodies over inadequate financial support from the provincial government. In June, the K-P Local Government Employees Federation had voiced strong concern over the failure to release sufficient grants to pay salaries and pensions of employees in financially weak councils.
According to the federation, the finance department had approved grants of Rs360.4 million and Rs150 million for settled areas, and Rs71 million for merged districts. However, union leaders argued these amounts fell far short of the actual requirements of various Tehsil Municipal Administrations. They said the allocations were often based on outdated formulas, leaving weaker councils unable to pay staff on time.
Federation leaders, including Patron-in-Chief Shaukat Kayani, Chairman Mehboobullah, President Haji Anwar Kamal Khan Marwat, and General Secretary Sulaiman Khan Hoti, accused provincial authorities of ignoring ground realities. They lamented that many employees and pensioners could not receive their dues even ahead of Eidul Fitr and were again facing hardships in the run-up to Eidul Azha.
They urged the government to ensure fair and timely release of grants based on genuine financial needs rather than political considerations. “Local government employees and pensioners should not be forced to beg for what is rightfully theirs,” one leader said.
As the strike continues in Peshawar, residents are bracing for worsening sanitation and civic conditions, while union leaders say the protest will only end once the government fulfills its commitments.
