June 2, 2003	Monday	Rabi-us-Sani 1, 1424

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SUKKUR, June 1: Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Jamali has said that the Federal Public Service Commission (Amendment) Ordinance will permit the provincial government to provide jobs from grade 1 to grade 15 on the basis of merit alone.

He said this while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the gas supply project in Garhi Khairo, Jacobabad district on Sunday.

He said that there would be no ‘Safarish’ or ‘Parchi’ or quota of MNAs, MPAs or ministers as had been the case in the past.

He said that the candidate would have to take an examination and an interview and if they cleared both they would be recruited.

The prime minister said that the ordinance was issued three days back in Islamabad and now it was up to the provincial government to chalk out a programme for recruitment of unemployed youth in their respective provinces.

He said that the decision had been taken to eliminate unemployment in the country and “the jobs would not be allowed to be sold” as had been the practice in the past.

Without naming Nawaz Sharif, he said that the former government had imposed a ban on jobs, and without naming Benazir Bhutto, he said the PPP government sold these jobs. “Now they will not be sold, and only merit will prevail.”

Referring to the national political scenario, he said that some political parties might not allow the government to present the budget for which people are waiting.

He said that if the political parties obstructed the presentation of budget, they would be humiliating the people’s mandate, and added that the system was running smoothly and those elected should respect the public mandate.

He said that if certain political parties did not respect the mandate, the masses would have to pay for the consequences.

He announced to upgrade an intermediate college to a degree college in Garhi Khairo. He also promised to have a new transformer provided for the town.

About the water shortage, Mr Jamali said he had talked to the Sindh chief minister for resolving the water shortage in the area and he had been assured that measures would be taken to improve the water situation in the area.

Earlier, the federal minister for petroleum and natural resources, Nauroze Shakoor, in his speech, said that customer service centres of the SSGC were being established in every city of Sindh and Balochistan.

Speaking on the occasion, the chief minister, Sindh, Ali Mohammed Mahar, said that the law and order problem of Jacobabad and its surrounding areas is being looked into on the directives of the prime minister.

APP adds: The prime minister announced a reward of Rs500,000 for the workers of the SSGC for accomplishing the gas supply project of Garhi Khairo Town within a record period of two and a half months.