KARACHI: Recently, I have come across advertisements of the Punjab Youth Internship Programme, which is a project of the Punjab government, in different newspapers. The programme is offering three-month internships to 50,000 candidates. Every candidate will be paid a monthly stipend of Rs10,000.
One of the eligibility criteria for this internship programme is that candidates must possess Punjab domiciles. This is very unfair for all those who live in Punjab and study there but do not have Punjab domiciles.
On the one hand, the PML-N chief, Nawaz Sharif, says that the people of Balochistan are not happy because they have not been given equal rights by other provinces and, on the other, the Punjab government formulates a policy which clashes with Mr Sharif’s statement. It is my request to the Punjab government to accept those candidates as well who have domiciles of provinces other than that of Punjab. The provincial government can have the stipulation that candidates must be studying in Punjab in order to be eligible to apply for the internship programme, but the criterion regarding the domicile must be done away with.
Mubashir Mahmood
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2012.
