PESHAWAR: The police have arrested several leaders of the civil secretariat employees for planning a protest against `non-implementation` of the chief minister`s directives to ensure three per cent quota in Provincial Management Service (PMS) for the employees of the commissioners` and deputy commissioners` offices.

The secretariat employees had announced protest for Friday.

Though the city police was tight-lipped about the number of arrests, which were made on Thursday apparently to foil the employees` plan to protest at the secretariat gate, the employees union alleged that at least 10 of their leaders representing five unions from the secretariat had been arrested.

Bilal, general secretary of the stenographers` association, told Dawn that Zafar Khan Yousafzai, chairman of all employees coordination committee, had been arrested along with Tasawur Iqbal, Musharraf Khan, Zafarullah Khan and Qaiser Khan. He said that at least nine leaders of the protesting employees had been arrested bythe pohce.

However, the east cantonment police station officials expressed ignorance about the number of arrested employees.

They said that these employees had been arrested by dif ferent police stations of the city. Bureau Report