MM Report
KARACHI: A nationwide strike by employees of the Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA), an organisation operating under the Ministry of Science and Technology, entered its 15th day, bringing certification services and testing operations across the country to a standstill.
All PSQCA offices, certification branches and testing laboratories remained closed, disrupting industrial certification and import clearance procedures. The prolonged shutdown has affected trade activity and delayed the movement of imported consignments.
The protestors said the strike was launched in protest against what they described as the actions of Federal Secretary for Science and Technology Shahid Iqbal Baloch. Protesters said that during the tenure of former federal minister Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, a 20-day strike had ended after employees’ demands were accepted and benefits were restored.
The employees alleged that some of the same officials remained responsible for the current dispute. They have demanded the immediate repatriation of deputation officer Toufiq Abbasi to his parent department. They also called for the implementation of court orders against Ali Bakhsh Soomro and Khalid Babalani, whom they alleged had been found by a court to have been recruited through irregular appointments.
Other demands include the immediate payment of a six-month bonus that has been pending for a year, the release of house ceiling benefits and the restoration of the previous medical benefits system in place of the existing State Life arrangement.
Meanwhile, the Karachi Customs Clearing and Forwarding Association (KCCFA) urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to intervene immediately. In a letter, KCCFA President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra said the closure of PSQCA offices had effectively halted import and export processing at SAPT, KICT and QICT terminals, leaving hundreds of consignments stranded at the ports.
The association warned that importers and businesses were incurring millions of rupees in port demurrage and container detention charges with each passing day. It said the disruption had severely affected supply chains, slowed industrial production and was causing significant damage to the national economy.
The protesting employees said they would continue the strike until their demands were accepted in writing. They warned that the continued closure of the authority could further affect manufacturers, exporters and the country’s export sector.
Attempts were made to obtain comments from Federal Secretary Shahid Iqbal Baloch and the PSQCA administration, but no response was received. Their position will be published if and when it becomes available.
