According to PML-F MPA, the quota system ought to be eliminated so that each appointment is determined by merit.
Karachi
Certain opposition lawmakers demanded during Thursday’s session of the Sindh Assembly for doing away with all sort of quotas for government jobs.
The debate on the quota system cropped up unexpectedly during the question hour of provincial minority affairs department.
The debate began when the ministers from the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) said under-privileged and impoverished sections of the society had been given protection in the constitution and the quota system was in its accordance.
Sindh Minister for Minorities Affairs Gayan Chand Essrani, while responding to written and oral queries of lawmakers, informed the house that from January 1, 2008, to March 15, 2013, some 22 employees had been recruited by his department.
He said all the 22 employees belonged to religious minorities while urban and rural quotas had been duly observed in their appointments.
To this information, opposition MPA Mehtab Akbar Rashidi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) remarked that the quota system had made inroads into every affair and should be abolished so that every appointment could be made on the basis of merit.
Then Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker Irum Azeem Farooque said urban and rural quotas in jobs were present on in Sindh.
This made the Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon get up and taunt Farooque that she herself was appointed to the Sindh Assembly on seats reserved for woman legislators.
Shedding more light on the issue, education minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro said the constitution of 1973 had introduced the quota system in government jobs so that the underprivileged sections of society could be protected.
He said that Pakistan People’s Party-led provincial government neither had any objection to the merit-based system, nor did it have any problem with open competition based on merit.
However, he said, it should be kept in mind that the quota system had been introduced to protect the
interests of vulnerable communities.
Elaborating on the issue further, Sindh Parliamentary Affairs Minister Dr Sikandar Mandhro said Article 27 of the constitution had provisions for implementing a quota system for government jobs to protect the interests of deprived classes. However, he said, the system had become invalid in 2013 but all four provincial assemblies had passed resolutions for extending it for another 40 years.
This bit of information prompted the leader of opposition, Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan of the MQM, to ask the treasury benches when the provincial assemblies had passed the resolution. But Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Khan Durrani intervened.
He said the House, at present, was not debating the validity of the quota system.
He advised the lawmakers advocating its abolishment to introduce and propose constitutional amendments to the parliament to get the relevant provisions deleted or amended from the constitution.
LEAs lauded
Congratulating itself and its law enforcers on the arrest of four suspects for their alleged involvement in the Safoora tragedy, the assembly passed a unanimous resolution appreciating law-enforcement agencies for catching the purported culprits.
The arrests had been declared by the Sindh chief minister a day earlier at a press conference in Nawabshah.
The resolution passed in the Sindh Assembly was moved by PPP MPA Nusrat Sultana and was supported by both treasury and opposition benches.
It stated: “This Assembly appreciates the role of security and intelligence agencies and the Sindh Police in particular for tracking down the perpetrators within days of the Safoora Goth carnage in which over 40 members of the Shia Ismaili community were killed”.
Speaking on the subject, Nusrat Sultana said the May 13 incident was highly condemnable and its anguish had been sensed all across the country.
She said the Sindh Police had done a wonderful job by arresting the terrorists involved only five days after the tragedy.
She said the credit for the extraordinary achievement would surely go to the Sindh chief minister who had supervised the police action against terrorists.
Referring to high academic qualifications of the three suspects, leader of opposition Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan said the investigation into the incident had proved that a violent mindset had also crept into institutions of higher learning, including the University of Karachi and the University of Punjab.
He said the mindset had been planted during the dictatorial regime of General Zia-ul-Haq when students were equipped with Kalashnikovs for promoting violence on campuses.
This made the Sindh Assembly speaker quip that he too faced the remnants of Zia-ul-Haq’s regime in his own constituency. He said in the recent past, like-minded educated men had been found in high-profile militant attacks in the country.
The opposition leader said that it should not be forgotten that the mainstream political parties, Awami National Party, MQM and the PPP had bore most of the brunt of terrorists’ attacks.
He said that it was owing to the frequency of these attacks that the three parties could not even organise a major rally while campaigning for 2013 general election.
He said while the three parties were virtually barred from electoral arena by terrorists, a ‘favourite’ political party had led its election campaign with much fanfare.
He requested the Sindh chief minister to attend a session and brief the lawmakers about the entire investigation and interrogation of the arrested criminals, including their political affiliations.
Also speaking on the resolution, Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said it was unfortunate that some concerned quarters had unduly blamed the Sindh Police for being politicised.
He said that the force had been given a free hand for acting against criminals without being influenced by anyone, including the chief minister himself.
He said the present government had selected the most efficient and qualified police officials and posted them at all key field positions.
Memon said the police authorities concerned and investigators had found all clues and evidence, including weapons used, to prove beyond any doubt that these four suspects were involved in Safoora Goth massacre of members of the Ismaili community.
Service tribunals
The Sindh Assembly also passed into law the Sindh Service Tribunals (Fourth Amendment) Act 2015.
Later, the speaker read out in the assembly the prorogation order as decreed by Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan as the current session had been in progress since April 6, 2015, during which the it had fulfilled the mandatory constitutional requirement of remaining in session for 100 days in a parliamentary year.
