As many as 267 sacked employees of Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) Monday staged a demonstration against what they called their ‘unjustified’ termination from service.They chanted slogans against the PARC administration outside the PARC building. However, PARC Chairman Dr Muhammad Afzal, while talking to Pakistan Today said that those sacked had been illegally appointed by his predecessor Dr Zafar Altaf during 2009-10.
Contrary to Dr Afzal’s claim, a sacked employee Muhammad Luqman said, “We were appointed legally but at the behest of some high-ups in the PPP government the incumbent chairman removed us to appointment their blue-eyed boys.” Muhammad Arshad, another employee, said that most of the sacked employees had been working as daily wagers for years and that former chairman had only regularised them. The protesting employees said that they have been served termination letters, in which administration failed to justify their firing.
“The price hike has already made our life miserable and now we are being fired on political grounds. There was no legal justification for firing us”, he added. Besides termination of 267 employees, PARC has also sent back 5 officer of BPS-17 and above, who have been working on deputation, to their parent departments. The sacked employees include three officers of BPS-20, four of BPS 19, One of BPS-18, 44 of BPS-17, 18 of BPS-16.