KARACHI: More than 500 government employees, especially teachers, continue to work as journalists, despite the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) orders, in violation of the Sindh Civil Servant (Conduct) Rules, 2008, reports a local media outlet.
Majority of these do not attend government offices despite drawing their salaries and are more inclined towards their journalism careers. In August this year, the SHC’s Hyderabad Circuit Bench, on a constitutional petition filed by a Nawabshah-based journalist, had directed all commissioners of Sindh to ensure that no government employee worked as a journalist in the province. According to the report, Pir Mazhar, as education minister, had submitted the district-wise list of these ‘journalists’ in 2012 to the Sindh Assembly, however, he faced a severe backlash from the media over the issue.
The report also states that show-cause notices have been served to teaching and non-teaching staff working as journalists in Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin, Sukkur, Larkana, Umerkot, Kashmore, Khairpur, Jacobabad, Naushero Feroz, Sanghar and Tharparkar districts, but there has not been any response as of yet. Education Minister Jam Mahtab Dahar said that his department will decide about the fate of these after the final report. Another official said that the information department has been asked to not issue accreditation cards to these government employees.
Karachi Information Director Zeenat Jahan told the newspaper that she herself is aware of quite a few government employees who work as journalists, but nothing can be done until a final report is prepared. She added that no one has yet asked her to cancel the accreditation cards that are issued by her department.
