KARACHI – The Sindh Assembly on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution demanding the federal government to ensure the share of the province in federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s senior member Dr Sikander Mandhro moved the resolution, and all parliamentary parties, including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) and Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid, supported it.
The PPP ministers opined that the parliament has accepted provinces’ right in the federal services in the 18th Constitutional Amendment.
MQM’s parliamentary leader Sardar Ahmed suggested that it should be explained in the constitution that the Defence services also comes under the definition of federal services. SA Speaker Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, however, told the MQM leader that the constitution has already clearly mentioned that all the provinces have equal rights in Defence services.
The resolution stated, “This assembly resolves and recommends to the government of Sindh to approach the federal government to ensure that the share of the province of Sindh in all federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established by or under the control of the federal government, is secured, and any omission in such allocations made in the past shall be rectified exactly in accordance with the provisions of the constitution.
Article 38 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan describes that the State shall ensure the share of the province in all federal services, including autonomous bodies and corporations established by or under the control of the federal government, is secured and any omission in allocation of the shares of the provinces in the past shall be rectified.”
In his speech, PPP’s Mandhro said that Sindh was not given 37,628 jobs according to its share in the financial year 2008-09. During the year, he added, the federal government had filled 439,010 posts in various departments and corporations.
Thus, he said, the people of Sindh were deprived of 19,256 jobs in federal departments, and 18,372 vacancies in various corporations. Besides, Mandhro added, the share of Sindh in the Defence services is next to nothing.
He said that it was apparent injustice with the people of the province who were facing increasing number of problems as regards unemployment and poverty in the country.
He also said that receiving due share in the federal services is the constitutional right of Sindh, and it should not be given to people of other provinces. Speaking on the resolution, MQM’s Ahmed said that the province had raised the issue during deliberations on the National Finance Commission Award in 2003 and 2006, but it received no response.
He said that now that the 18th Constitutional Amendment has been passed, the issue should be resolved.
He suggested that the Defence services should also be a part of the federal services, and it should clearly be mentioned in the Constitution.
Sindh Law Minister Ayaz Soomro said that the people of the province are dealing with injustices in the country since 1947.
However, he added, living nations obtain their rights forcibly; therefore, Sindh would not back down from its demand for its due share in jobs, judiciary, etc. “People of Sindh should at least be given their due share in jobs,” he said.
The PPP leader said that the doors of the federal government jobs have remained completely closed during the last 13 years. PML-F’s Nusrat Saher Abbasi said that Sindh should now be given its due share in federal government’s jobs since the PPP government is in power and President Asif Ali Zardari also belongs to the province.
PML-F’s Dr Rafique Banbhan demanded that advertisements regarding jobs in federal government departments and other bodies should appear in newspapers being published from Sindh so the people of the province could know about them.
MQM’s Heer Sohu said that it would be humiliating for the SA if the federal government does not respond to the resolutions passed in the house. Therefore, he added, the house should follow its resolution to ensure it is implemented. PPP’s Ghulam Mujaddid Isran, Farheen Mughal, Anwar Maher, Rafiq Engr and others also spoke on the resolution.
