PESHAWAR: Teachers of governmentschoolsinKurram Agency have expressed concern for non-payment of salaries since their appointment and demanded of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmed Khan to order release of salaries without delay.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, dozens of teachers and nonteaching staff said the Fata education department had appointed them on different posts about two and a half years ago but they were yet to be paid salaries.

They said the 68 freshly appointed teachers also included 22 senior teachers who had applied for the new posts and qualified the tests and interviews, but they also suf fered due to non-payment of salaries.

Of the teachers, they said 12 were women who were doing their duties regularly but without payment of salary. `We have held severalmeetings with the concerned officials of education department and Fata secretariat who assured us of releasing the salaries but to no avail, the teachers alleged.

They also showed appointment letters to the media persons and attendantregisters to prove that they were appointed purely on merit and their salaries were pending for past two and half years without any reason.

The affectedteacherssaid they were recruited on various posts, including DM, PE T, lab assistants, etc, addingoneofthereasonsbehind non-payment of salaries was frequent transfers of concerned officials as every newly posted political agent refused to implement decisions of his predecessor.

`We have no other option except to start protest demonstrations outside Fata secretariat, and the Governor House and to block the main roads for pressing our demands,` the teachers warned. Bureau Report