National internship programme: Nine months on, 3700 internees await stipends
Funds were seized once the programme was terminated in K-P following the 18th amendment.
SWAT:
Nine months on, around 3,700 young graduates of Malakand division who served under the National Internship Programme (NIP) have not been paid stipends.
Graduates from various institutes across Swat, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, and Buner districts in the year 2011 were adjusted in various government departments and were entitled to a Rs10,000 monthly stipend under the NIP. However, since the programme was devolved to the provinces following the 18th amendment, the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) terminated it, leading to the seizure of funds allocated for stipends.
The programme was successfully run in the militancy-hit Swat valley where fresh graduates were given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and offered the chance of a regular job if they proved themselves deserving. Now, new graduates are again jobless, while others have not been paid their dues.
The internees have collectively appealed to the prime minister, chief justice of the Supreme Court and Chief Minister K-P Amir Haider Khan Hoti to release their withheld stipends.
“We have not been paid for our hard work. We are legally entitled to this money,” said Saeedur Rehman, a graduate from Saidu Sharif and also an NIP beneficiary. Another graduate, Muhammad Luqman, said that the government is observing “a permanent silence” on the issue.
Nabila Farooq, an NIP beneficiary who taught at a middle school in Hajibaba, Mingora, for five months under the NIP, said that working in areas like Swat is a challenge for young women. “But we strove hard and worked despite our families’ opposition. We had to spend from our own pocket to pay for travelling expenses, but the government has given us nothing in return,” she added.
One disgruntled beneficiary, Jahanzeb Khan, vowed to voice the issue on every forum to fight for his right.
When contacted, K-P MPA Sher Shah Khan said the NIP beneficiaries have not been paid because the K-P government did not have sufficient funds. He said the issue is under discussion with the federal government.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.
Nine months on, around 3,700 young graduates of Malakand division who served under the National Internship Programme (NIP) have not been paid stipends.
Graduates from various institutes across Swat, Shangla, Upper Dir, Lower Dir, and Buner districts in the year 2011 were adjusted in various government departments and were entitled to a Rs10,000 monthly stipend under the NIP. However, since the programme was devolved to the provinces following the 18th amendment, the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) terminated it, leading to the seizure of funds allocated for stipends.
The programme was successfully run in the militancy-hit Swat valley where fresh graduates were given the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and offered the chance of a regular job if they proved themselves deserving. Now, new graduates are again jobless, while others have not been paid their dues.
The internees have collectively appealed to the prime minister, chief justice of the Supreme Court and Chief Minister K-P Amir Haider Khan Hoti to release their withheld stipends.
“We have not been paid for our hard work. We are legally entitled to this money,” said Saeedur Rehman, a graduate from Saidu Sharif and also an NIP beneficiary. Another graduate, Muhammad Luqman, said that the government is observing “a permanent silence” on the issue.
Nabila Farooq, an NIP beneficiary who taught at a middle school in Hajibaba, Mingora, for five months under the NIP, said that working in areas like Swat is a challenge for young women. “But we strove hard and worked despite our families’ opposition. We had to spend from our own pocket to pay for travelling expenses, but the government has given us nothing in return,” she added.
One disgruntled beneficiary, Jahanzeb Khan, vowed to voice the issue on every forum to fight for his right.
When contacted, K-P MPA Sher Shah Khan said the NIP beneficiaries have not been paid because the K-P government did not have sufficient funds. He said the issue is under discussion with the federal government.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.