LAHORE: Mian A.M. Khaliq, a Council Muslim League leader yesterday [June 27] called for positive steps by the Government to restore confidence in officers belonging to the Punjab in view of the fact that they had suffered immense hardships in One Unit.

Addressing a Press conference, Mian Khaliq said that during the past 15 years the Punjabi officers, employed in various Government departments, had been denied their rights and all avenues of promotion had been closed to them. Non-Punjabi officers had occupied key positions which Punjabis had served in junior positions. He said now that the old Provinces were being restored the status of pre-integration Punjabi staff should be restored. …

He said recently a substantial number of officers of the building and Highways Department at Lahore and Bahawalpur were declared surplus and their fate still hangs fire. The worst part of it, he said, was that the officers dealing with such cases happened to belong to regions other than Punjab and they had purposely avoided any decision about their absorption.

He said such injustices had created a sense of frustration in Punjabis who otherwise deserved better treatment. — Agency

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2020