From quotas to meritocracy

Pakistan's reliance on government hiring quotas is a well-intentioned but flawed tool for addressing inequality. While designed to uplift marginalised communities, federal quotas have often compromised meritocracy, bred inefficiency and fueled resentment. Recent moves, such as the decision earlier this year to abolish 30,968 public sector jobs and end the discriminatory "son quota", signal a welcome shift toward merit-based hiring.

Islamabad and the provinces should take note of the AJK High Court's recent order to abolish quotas in the state. While AJK's quotas made sense when they were announced — to give job opportunities to refugees from Indian Occupied Kashmir — today, the people taking advantage of these quotas are second, third and fourth generation refugees.

If they still need to rely on quotas, rather than their own skills and qualifications, to find work after decades of preferential treatment, both they and the system have failed. It is also worth noting that the protests that led to former Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina fleeing her country were triggered by similar quotas that supposedly benefitted the families of independence war heroes, but in practice, were directed towards her political cronies, most of whom were the children and grandchildren of influential independence figures.

This is proof enough that the government should eliminate most federal quotas while retaining targeted safeguards at lower levels for truly vulnerable groups like women and religious minorities. The benefits need not even be at the provincial level - many local governments can accommodate genuine vulnerable groups. The point should be to ensure that people can rise on the economic ladder, not necessarily to give them a path to power.

Quota employees of local governments are likelier to live in backwards areas, which will lead them to use their own newfound wealth and influence to effect positive changes in these areas. Provincial governments should also shift focus from hiring and relocating people from backwards areas to investing in developing those areas so that they catch up with the 21st century.