The truth is that PTI government has failed to address the core issues of the common man, especially the youth of K-P.
BAGH DUSH KHEL, DISTRICT LOWER DIR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province vowed during the election campaign that it will create jobs for the youth. However, it is visible from the government’s attitude that it is oblivious to the problems of the youth. In the last year, many jobs were advertised by different departments of K-P. The responsibility of recruitment for some positions was handed over to the National Testing Service (NTS) and for some positions applicants were asked to send CVs only.
Following suit, the Local Government, Elections and Rural Development Department of K-P decided to invite applications for different posts in early 2014. These jobs were for the positions of assistant director of technical affairs, accounts officers and planning officers (social/engineering) for the Peshawar Development Authority and the Local Areas Development Authorities. The provisional selection on the first two positions was the onus of NTS while for the third position, the employers simply demanded a CV and a cover letter. The NTS conducted the test and handed over the result to the department concerned at the end of February 2014.
It goes without saying that the other departments, which had stipulated hiring through the NTS, realised their mistake of involving the transparency of NTS and decided to advertise other jobs through the old pattern of asking only for CVs and cover letters so that favouritism and corruption may be facilitated. The hiring process was re-hauled so that the government officials could hire their own family members and party workers or perhaps, to get bribes on the said posts. Unsurprisingly, not a single department of the province dared to tread the path of transparency after the precedent set by this particular department.
It seems quite clear that the bureaucracy and political leaders of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa don’t want to hire candidates on merit and therefore, they delay interviews and meddle with the transparent system of hiring while ruling out the NTS.
It is ironic that the PTI government had pledged to end corruption and change this faltering system. This rhetoric seems to have been mere sloganeering and election fodder aimed at wooing young voters. Once again, the people of K-P are fooled by a political party which is busy using the people of the province as mere ‘herd’ who can be used to increase the attendance at their rallies and participate in strikes in Islamabad, Faisalabad or Lahore. The truth is they have failed to address the core issues of the common man, especially the youth of K-P. The party leadership and the provincial government should look into the matter discussed above and help young people of K-P to get the jobs on merit and in timely manner.
Muhammad Haneef
Published in The Express Tribune, June 11th, 2014.
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