PESHAWAR:
Former spokesperson and media coordinator of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister (CM) Pervez Khattak has moved the Peshawar High Court against the violation of his rights and non-payment of salaries for the tenure he served in the government.
Muhammad Shiraz Paracha filed the petition through his lawyer Syed Muhammad Nisar Safdar, in which he cited Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan, CM Khattak, Principal Secretary Muhammad Ashfaq, former information minister Shah Farman, former secretary information Tariq Jameel and former director information Behramand Jan as respondents.
Paracha says he worked as a spokesperson for nine months until May 30, 2014 for which he was not paid anything, although his agreed salary was Rs300,000 per month. The former information minister was persuaded to pay the petitioner for four months, after which a cheque was approved by the CM, accountant general and information department, but was never paid.
The petitioner has also demanded that his post not be filled until the matter is cleared out. Paracha alleged that the ‘administrative helplessness’ of K-P is because of non-cooperation of local bureaucracy and too much interference from the PTI central leadership.
“According to Section 24-A of General Clauses Act, giving employment and then arbitrarily changing the condition without hearing the parties and without giving cogent reasons for changing such conditions is a perverse order,” the petition adds.
Paracha had tendered his resignation in July this year, citing ‘bureaucratic hurdles’ as one of the reasons behind his departure. Saying he would divulge his reasons for resigning at an appropriate time, Paracha claimed some elements had been unhappy when he had joined Khattak’s team and that PTI suffered from severe gaps in operational hierarchies.
“The province is a theatre of local and foreign wars. We need a proper communication strategy and trained specialists who understand psychological mind-games applied by powerful forces to create fear and instability in Pakistan, particularly in K-P,” read the earlier statement issued by him, adding, “As a professional communicator and student of psychological-warfare techniques, I wanted to assist the government by launching an intelligent counter-propaganda strategy, but was never allowed to do so.”
Published in The Express Tribune, August 28th, 2014.
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@Politely Honest: Wow. The Parliament person not paid due to his lack of ability. This is the real change.
Shiraz Paracha, merit speaks for itself. If you were indeed capable enough and could deliver something tangible based upon on all the attributes you have listed, you would not have lost your job in the first place