In session: Failure to pay Christian employees before Easter irks minority MPA

PML-N’s Frederic Azeem Ghauri said notification was issued on April 11 but salaries were not paid.

PESHAWAR: Salaries of Christian government employees were not released by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government ahead of Easter even though an official notification had been issued earlier.

This issue was raised on a point of order in the K-P Assembly on Monday by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Frederic Azeem Ghauri.

Ghauri informed the house that on April 11 the finance department issued a notification stating salaries and pensions of Christian employees will be paid by April 17, however, Easter passed on Sunday and the salaries still remain unpaid.

The lawmaker asked the government to take notice of the matter. Adviser to the Chief Minister (CM) on Minority Affairs Sardar Sooran Singh assured Ghauri that the government will look into it, but Ghauri insisted he wanted assurances from CM Pervez Khattak.

However, the CM did not pay much heed to Ghauri’s repeated requests and continued to indulge in a conversation with another MPA. Other lawmakers in the house also did not seem to empathise with Ghauri.

Furthermore, Speaker Asad Qaiser did not allow Ghauri more time to speak on the issue and the Christian lawmaker was not even backed by Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazal’s lawmaker on reserved seats for non-Muslims, Askar Pervaiz, who happened to be sitting next to Ghauri.

The lawmaker told The Express Tribune that Christian employees continued to contact him throughout the Easter weekend, wanting to know about their promised salaries. He added he had spoken to the CM and the local government minister later and brought this issue to their notice.

During the question and hour session, the government found itself in an embarrassing position regarding the delay in issuing notifications about the portfolios assigned to five new ministers appointed on April 1.

JUI-F lawmaker from Lakki Marwat, Noor Saleem Malik, raised the issue on the floor.

Speaker Qaiser asked Minister for Industries Shaukat Ali Yousafzai to explain the government’s position even though senior minister Shahram Tarakai was present at the session.

When Yousafzai attempted to address the house, opposition lawmakers Noor Saleem and Munawar Khan asked him to first explain whether he was explaining the government’s position as the health minister or industries minister, to which Yousafzai replied he would answer as a former health minister.

Absent employees

Yousafzai acknowledged there were discrepancies in the number of senior doctors on the government’s payroll who are not practicing in the country. According a list presented in the house earlier, 24 government doctors from the province were abroad. However, following criticism from the opposition benches Yousafzai acknowledged the number was over 200.

The former health minister added the government had already sacked around 85 doctors for being absent from duty.

The opposition’s continuing criticism enraged CM Khattak who urged opposition lawmakers to cooperate with the government. He claimed that under Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s governance, corruption had reduced to less than 5% as compared to other provinces.

Khattak also defended his government’s policies and said they will arrange a briefing for opposition parties on this subject soon. However, opposition lawmakers took exception to Khattak’s outburst and continued to criticise him.

The session was in progress till the filing of this report.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2014.