61 NADRA employees sacked over protests

Strike continues for a third consecutive day.

KARACHI:

The National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) sacked 61 employees across the country for disrupting its services with the protests that erupted on Monday.

Around 18 employees were fired from Lahore, 11 from Sargodha, 10 from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, nine from Islamabad, six from Balochistan, five from Sukkur and two from other areas.

The director general of NADRA’s Sindh chapter, Zahid Hussain, confirmed the terminations, but denied that anyone from Sindh was fired over the protests. He said those sacked from the Sindh offices were already facing disciplinary action, claiming that their inquiries were already under process. “The rest will be regularised in 15 days,” he added.

A committee was also set up to go over the employees’ demands and is due to meet on February 28. “But the employees have to realize that these things take time,” said Hussain, adding, “We have submitted our proposal to the government.”

Hussain said that NADRA provides essential services to the country. “Making unions and creating disturbances in service have no room here.” Referring to the NADRA Employees Welfare Association, he said those involved with unions were terminated.

Meanwhile, the protests continued for a third consecutive day and all offices of the NADRA Provincial Headquarters (PHQ) Islamabad remained closed.  The employees gathered at the Parade Lane in front of the parliament house on Wednesday for a sit-in until their demands are met.

The president of the association, Raza Khan Swati, said that the protests will continue till the chief secretary handed over the notification for the regularisation of all employees with the endorsement of the Prime Minister.

“We made NADRA what it is today and now we are rewarded with termination letters,” said Malik Sajid Awan, the vice president of the employees association. “We have not committed any sin we are demanding our rights.”

Iftikhar Ali Magsi, the general secretary of the employees association at Sindh, received his termination letter on Wednesday. However, he said that the termination letters were not as important as the regularisation of all the contract employees.

Around 14,700 employees were hired on contract under the NADRA Ordinance 2000, according to the employees union. Making the jobs permanent would require a long process of legislation because the ordinance itself will have to be amended.

Earlier, the employees had rejected a notification issued by the chairman of the authority which extended the contracts of all employees till their retirement. The protestors said they would not be entitled to any pension if they retire as contract employees after working for a lifetime for the authority. They vowed not to return to work until their demands are met. (With additional reporting by Umer Nangiana)

Published in The Express Tribune, February 23^rd, 2012.