MUZAFFARABAD, July 21: The AJK bureaucracy has urged the government to take up with the centre the issue of their representation in the staff posted in Pakistani missions abroad, Dawn learnt on authority here on Thursday. These officers fear that their area would again be overlooked in selection of 17 community welfare attachés, although one of their colleague had made to the last leg of the selection procedure, i.e., the special selection board (SSB).

The federal ministry of labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis is said to be finalizing the list of 17 officers to be posted in foreign missions in Europe, Middle East and South-East Asia.

According to sources, around 300 officers from across the country, including seven from AJK, had appeared in the tests for these posts on April 17.

Successful candidates were asked to appear for interviews on May 4 and were short-listed for the SSB to be held on May 18. The SSB was headed by Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

According to the sources, one of the seven AJK officers made to the SSB but he has not been informed of his fate.

Interestingly, sources claimed, no officer from Balochistan could qualify for the SSB but half a dozen candidates from there were called through the Establishment Division for a special SSB on July 7, ostensibly with a view to giving representation to the country’s largest province in terms of area.

“If Balochistan can be accommodated out of the way to ensure representation from all regions, then our state should also be given a similar treatment,” representatives of AJK officers maintained. They requested the AJK government to take up the issue with the concerned quarters in Islamabad.

Four years back, another AJK officer, enjoying full command over spoken and written Arabic as well as personal relations with several Saudi officials, had also made to the SSB along with 12 other officers from rest of the country for a similar posting, but he too was not considered for ‘want of political backing’.

Interestingly, the federal minister had vowed last year that selection criteria for community welfare attachés would be reviewed and in future selection would be made according to policy and rules.

It may be mentioned here that so far only one officer from AJK has served in a foreign mission as labour attaché in the Pakistan embassy in Oman from 1979 to 1983.

He is incumbent additional chief secretary (development) Sardar Abdul Rashid Khan.