PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has bowed down to the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s ‘pressure group’ and cancelled appointment of 796 warders to the prison department.

Thirteen disgruntled MPAs of the PTI, who have formed the pressure group, had raised the issue in the provincial assembly on February 6 and brought it into the notice of party chairman Imran Khan last week forcing the government to withdraw the appointment notification.

“The provincial government while taking notice of irregularities in appointment of 796 employees in prison department cancelled their appointment forthwith,” said a notification, which was produced in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly on Monday amid uproar.

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Adviser to the chief minister on prison Malik Mohammad Qasim who has been accused of making irregularities in these recruitments, was not present in the house.

Disgruntled PTI MPAs had complained of anomalies in recruitment process

Disgruntled MPAs of the PTI also came down heavily on Jamaat-i-Islami and Awami Jamhoori Ittehad Pakistan, partners of the ruling coalition in the province, for making appointments without merit.

After cancellation of appointments to the prison department, disgruntled MPAs of the PTI demanded of the government to take similar action in other departments too and cancel fresh appointments made without merit.

They said members of the cabinet and officers involved in illegal appointments should quit their respective offices until the completion of the inquiry into the matter.

“There are black sheep in our ranks and those ministers, advisers and officers who have appointed a large number of people without merit should step down till the completion of inquiry,” said group leader Qurban Ali Khan while speaking on a point of order in the provincial assembly.

Qurban Ali said the house should be informed about the criteria and formula for the recruitment of employees in prison and other departments.

He warned if the PTI leadership did not take action on irregularities, then its repercussions would be very serious for the party and the system.

Speaker Asad Qaisar on the demand of Pakistan People’s Party parliamentary leader Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha and pressure group constituted a special committee to probe the alleged irregularities in the prison department appointments.

Cancellation of the appointment notification encouraged members of the ‘pressure group’ to demand inquiry into fresh recruitment in other departments too.

The group had tried to highlight the matter in the assembly on February 6 too but the speaker did not give them the floor. Later, they took up the matter with PTI chairman Imran Khan during his visit to Peshawar last week and demanded action.

Mehmood Jan, another member of the group, said on a point of order that appointments had been made in other departments in the province without observing merit and that there should be an across-the-board action on it.

“Just show me a single department where recruitment have been made on merit,” he said.

The lawmaker pointed out that minister Shahram Khan Tarakai had made appointments to the health department disregarding merit and that those recruited were from his constituency only.

He said the relevant minister had inducted own people in major hospitals like Lady Reading Hospital and Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar.

“The same situation prevails in every department including those of environment, education and others,” he said, accusing Jamaat-i-Islami of accommodating its own people in various departments.

The JI is coalition partner of the PTI in the province.

MPAs of the treasury and opposition parties said further investigation into the matter could put the coalition government in hot water.

The opposition benches supported the ‘pressure group’ to the embarrassment of ministers, who were present in the house.

Former labour minister Bakht Baidar Khan, who was removed from the cabinet in 2013 on the charge of illegal recruitments, asked Speaker Asad Qaisar to take action against ministers involved in the ‘irregular’ appointments to the prison department.

“Just like I was sacked from the cabinet, the government should take action against these ministers and advisers,” he said.

He demanded the production of the record of the people employed to government departments in the chief minister’s hometown.

Yaseen Khalil, former adviser to the chief minister, who was removed from his position on corruption charges, said MPAs were being ignored in the appointment of Class-IV employees and that violation of merit in recruitments was bringing a bad name to the party.

Public health engineering minister Shah Farman made desperate attempts to save the government from the embarrassing situation. He said the notification of the cancellation of prison department appointments proved that change had taken place in the province.

This had happened for the first time in the history of the provincial assembly that MPAs of the ruling party openly criticised the government over recruitments and that the recruitment notification was withdrawn on their demand.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2015

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