More than 300 ineligible candidates have been issued letters of appointment as Sindhi Language Teachers (SLTs) in Karachi, a majority of them belonging to non-Sindhi speaking communities, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Despite completion of all formalities, the appointment process of more than 1,200 Sindhi Language Teachers (SLTs) had come to a grinding halt due to a running feud between Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Education Minister Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq regarding the selection of candidates. However, the appointment process was recently resumed by giving additional charge of the responsibilities of director education to a low-grade official Abdul Jabbar Dayo.
The director, sources said, was allegedly famous for appeasing all his bosses and pocketing his due share. After the resumption of the appointment process, candidates received direct offer letters from Dayo in return for bribes worth Rs 400,000 for BPS-9, Rs 600,000 for BPS-14 and Rs 800,000 for BPS-15 appointments.
MNA Faryal Talpur, who is also the sister of President Asif Ali Zardari, ordered that the documents of all appointees be verified, when the issue was brought to her notice.
Upon verification, it was found that 300 offer letters for SLTs were issued to non-eligible candidates on cash payments, and the majority of them belonged to Urdu and Baloch-speaking people. It was also disclosed that a majority of these candidates were over-age and held fake degrees and certificates.
The PPP-led Sindh had announced recruitment of around 1,200 SLTs in BPS-9, 14 and 15, with two preconditions: candidates must have studied Sindhi as a compulsory subject throughout their education and possessed a Karachi domicile.
The written test for candidates was held in March 2012 while interviews were conducted in April 2012. The merit list of the successful candidates was to be put on display in the first week of May. From then on the rift over who would receive favours surfaced between the two luminaries of the government, and has remained unresolved.
Candidates seeking a date for the announcement of the merit list only received a vague promise, from the Sindh Education Ministry, that the CM would issue the appointments himself. Pir Mazhar was said to be trying to influence the CM to get his way, while the CM was insisting on merit-based recruitment without waiving the preconditions, divulged a source.
Sources alleged that the director education and his close associates were openly selling the jobs and demanding at least Rs 100,000 from the candidates waiting for posting orders. Recently, a group of qualified candidates also scuffled with the director at his office. The angry candidates were given posting orders on the spot.
Pakistan Today repeatedly tried to contact Dayo to seek his version of the story however his cell phones remained unattended for more than two days.
