Senate committee to discuss non-observance of provincial job quotas

Sindh, Balochistan job recruitments at centre of controversy

ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat is to again discuss on Wednesday, September 11 the claim that provincial job quotas are not being implemented in federal government services.

According to the three-point meeting agenda, the committee, headed by Talha Mehmood of the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), is to consider the issue of the 17,270 positions allocated for Balochistan said to be lying vacant in various government departments. Sindh reportedly has the same grievances which will also be discussed.

Mohammad Akram of the National Party had brought the matter to the attention of the Senate in September last year through a calling attention notice and Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani had subsequently referred it to the standing committee after Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan had denied the claims and put the number of vacant positions at only 4,095.

Despite discussions on the matter for many months now, the committee has failed to reach a conclusion. The Senate has also seen protests and walkouts by members from smaller provinces, especially Balochistan.

The issue had first been raised by Dr Sikandar Mandhro of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) when speaking on a point of public importance. He had quoted the Statistics Bulletin of the Establishment Division which had stated that, of 1,137,843 sanctioned positions in the federal services, only 966,606 had been filled.

Dr Mandhro had also claimed that Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) had 6,496 and 87,296 more jobs, respectively than their allocated constitutional share. But, he had alleged, Balochistan and Sindh were facing a shortfall of 17,270 and 17,473 posts respectively.

When moving his calling attention notice, Mohammad Akram had regretted that Balochistan had been neglected by both military and democratic governments. He had said that, according to a report, some 40,000 people from Balochistan were employed in federal government departments, adding that he doubted the figure as most of these posts had been taken by people possessing fake Balochistan domiciles. He had further alleged that the people of Balochistan were not being accommodated in the foreign service.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2019.