Dejected candidates of Sindh Public Service Commission burn degrees in protest

Their appointments were nullified by Supreme Court

KARACHI: It is not a joke to burn your own degree that you have been awarded after years of hard work in a particular field. However, such was the plight of the candidates of Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) 2013 who burnt their degrees in protest outside the Karachi Press Club on Friday.

Shouting slogans and holding placards against the government, the candidates burnt their degrees while asking Chief Justice of Pakistan to review the decision.

The candidates were protesting against the orders issued by the Supreme Court (SC). Their appointments were made null and void after the SC took suo moto action against the chairperson of the commission, Muhammad Saleem Bhounr, on his eligibility for the post.



"We applied for the combined competitive exam for 2013 and sat for screening test in 2014," recalled Muhammad Asim while talking to The Express Tribune. He added that all the candidates appeared for the written exam in 2015 while the interviews were conducted in 2016. After that, he said, the shortlisted candidates were called for medical tests and other verifications and were issued appointment letters.

In September 2016, the SC took suo motu notice. Last week, the court ruled that all the appointments made during Bhounr’s tenure are null and void. Bhounr resigned from his post when the SC questioned his eligibility. “But where should the candidates go in this case and what [is] their fault?” questioned another candidate, Marvi Manzoor, who is currently working as a lecturer in PECHS College.

Of the 227 candidates of SPSC 2013 batch, more than 65 left the jobs they previously held as they had been selected for executive and administrative posts, Manzoor said, adding they will be filing a revised petition in SC by Tuesday.

"We demand the Chief Justice to form a larger bench once the petition is filed and he himself should be on the bench and review our stance," she added. Manzoor said why the candidates should have to suffer when it was the chairperson who was not eligible.

Other than these 227, Bhounr has also appointed many doctors. Around 8,000 jobs were given in his tenure but none of them have been called off except for the executive and administrative jobs that have assistant commissioner, section officers and excise and taxation officers.



"I left my job as a national saving officer just because I got this job. But today I have nothing left,” said Asif Ali, who held an MBA in financial management from Sindh University and burnt his degree during the protest.

Thirty-year-old Asim, who is a graduate from College of Business Management in Karachi, had also left his job in a bank when he was appointed as a grade-17 officer. However, he feels it is useless to do anything in this country. Complaining about the system, he said in this age, nobody prefers them for jobs in the private sector as they want fresh graduates. He also pointed out that these are one of the reasons why educated youngsters join the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ). "What else would a jobless frustrated man do if their own governments and judiciary punishes them for the mistakes they never committed?"