HYDERABAD, Feb 5: The action committee of doctors who have passed the Public Service Commission exams has criticized the Sindh chief minister for cancelling the results announced by the SPSC on Feb 1.

It appealed to the president, prime minister, Sindh governor, chief justices of the Supreme Court and Sindh High Court and heads of various political parties to restore justice to doctors who had passed the written examination conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission.

Speaking at a news conference at the press club here on Sunday, action committee leaders Dr Zamir Abbasi, Dr Lala Yasir, Dr Khalid Khanzada, Ghulam Hyder Khokhar and others said 1,672 of 9,650 candidates had passed the test for 761 vacant posts of doctors.

They said no irregularities had been committed in the examination but 24 hours after announcement of the results, the chief minister cancelled the results and appointed a committee to probe into the alleged malpractice.

They wondered why the results had been cancelled even before a report by the committee.

Meanwhile, the action committee of doctors who had failed the test alleged malpractice in the test.

According to a press release, the action committee met here on Sunday and reviewed the situation.

It said the examinations, fixed for August 2005, had been postponed and held in Dec-

ember and the paper had been leaked.

It alleged that at various examination centres, cellphones had been used for solving the paper and agents employed for bargaining.

The meeting demanded that the test should be held again, corrupt officials in the SPSC should be removed and action taken against them, political quota system should be abolished and merit should be ensured.

It warned that if the examination was not re-held, the action committee would hold a series of protest demonstration and observe hunger strikes throughout Sindh.

Later, talking to Dawn, action committee member Dr Fayaz Rajpar proposed that the examination should be conducted by the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan to avoid any complaints.