KARACHI: Condemning the fact that apparently not a single job was allocated for citizens of Karachi in an advertisement given by the Karachi Port Trust (KPT) for over 400 vacancies, senior politician and chief of the Organisation Restoration Committee (ORC) of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Dr Farooq Sattar has asked Maritime Affairs Minister Ali Zaidi to explain the rationale behind this “injustice”.

However Mr Zaidi later tweeted that he had instructed the KPT to withhold the recruitment process.

Dr Sattar said on Monday that the KPT had recently given an advertisement in newspapers through which it sought applications from candidates living all across Pakistan for 37 posts for grade-16 to grade 20 and 386 posts between grade-2 and grade-8.

He said that the ad did not contain even one job for the people of Karachi and it was regrettable that of the 423 jobs not one job of mason or naib qasid was for Pakistan’s biggest city where the KPT itself was located.

Asks if there is a dearth of competent people in metropolis; Ali Zaidi suspends recruitment process

He said that Minister Zaidi was himself elected from Karachi and he should tell the people whether there was any dearth of competent and skilled people in the metropolis.

He demanded that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government take notice of this injustice and take meaningful steps to end the sense of deprivation.

Arrests condemned

Meanwhile, Dr Sattar also condemned the arrests of “hundreds of workers” of both MQM-Pakistan and his ORC.

He said that the workers of the MQM-P and ORC were trying to fill the political vacuum in Karachi and the “unjust” police action would only increase an already widening gulf.

He said that the workers were being released after they fill either a pro forma or give an undertaking and on personal bonds without even telling them their crime.

Dr Sattar asked Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to stop the police from such unnecessary and illegal acts and order release of the “innocent workers”.

On Sunday, MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui demanded release of over 100 of his workers who he said were arrested by the Sindh police at the behest of the provincial government. He condemned the provincial government for allegedly using police to harass his party workers, including women activists, by summoning them to police stations on the pretext of updating lists of political workers.

However, the Sindh police had rejected the allegations saying they were screening suspects who got bail in different cases during the past two years in the wake of recent terrorist attacks and the exercise was being conducted across the board. But the police confirmed that the screening exercise was being carried out at police stations, where suspects were being summoned.

KPT told to withhold recruitment process

Meanwhile, Minister Zaidi tweeted that he had instructed the ministry to write to the KPT and seek clarification on the ad regarding vacant seats and distribution of the assigned quota.

He also tweeted a letter dated Aug 10 written by Section Officer Allauddin Ahmed to the KPT chairman requesting him to share the list of all the employees serving in the KPT along with their domiciles and “elaborate how the KPT has worked out the quota mentioned in the advertisement dated 09-08-2020 in newspaper Dawn”.

“Since it is an important issue and inherent rights of the citizens may be affected, therefore, KPT is directed to withhold the recruitment process till the percentages of quota are properly worked out as per established and laid down formulae,” the letter read.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2020