Pakistan govt says it fired 1000 tear gas shells at own protesting employees to 'test it'

Last week, Pakistan police fired over 1,000 tear gas shells to disperse government employees in Islamabad protesting for a pay rise. Reacting to the incident, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed in an insensitive remark stated that it was "necessary to test the tear gas as it had been unused for a long time".

'Only a little was tested, not a lot'

Addressing a ceremony in Rawalpindi, Ahmed said that the Islamabad police "fired a little tear gas", and it was necessary to test it since the tear gas canisters had been unused for a long time, Dawn reported. "Only a little was tested, not a lot," he claimed.

Protesting under the umbrella of All Government Employees Grand Alliance, the public servants had announced a sit-in at Pakistan Secretariat till their salaries were increased.

Security personnel and protesters had clashed throughout Wednesday in the capital's heavily guarded Red Zone. However, the protest had ended the next day after a government committee succeeded in negotiations with the protesters, agreeing to increase the basic pay of federal government employees from grades 1 to 19 by 25%.

Rashid, who was part of the government committee, said that the "real problem" was not the tear gas shelling but the pay raise that "amounts to billions of rupees in this time of inflation [and is a burden on the] treasury", the newspaper quoted him as saying.

READ | PM Modi visits poll bound Tamil Nadu, assures equality & justice for Tamils in Sri Lanka

READ | Rahul Gandhi vows 'CAA will never happen'; assures 'Congress will stick to Assam accord'

People across social media erupted in anger against the Interior Minister, seeking an apology from Ahmed for his remark. "In any other country, a statement like this would mean the immediate firing of the minister and an apology from the government," said PML-N leader Mohammad Zubair.

Meanwhile, Rashid said the country had "nearly gotten out" of the Coronavirus pandemic and gave credit for bringing the situation under control to Prime Minister Imran Khan and the Pakistan Army, who he said had done "jihad against Covid-19". Talking about the 10-party Opposition alliance — Pakistan Democratic Movement's (PDM) — long march to Islamabad on February 26, the Interior Minister said they would be 'welcomed' if they followed the law and the Constitution.

READ | Disha Ravi sent to 5-day police custody in Greta 'toolkit' probe; breaks down in court

READ | Toolkit case: Delhi Police refutes Disha Ravi's editing claim; says 'shared doc to Greta'

(With ANI inputs)