KARACHI, June 1: Leader of the opposition in the Sindh Assembly Nisar Ahmed Khuhro on Thursday appealed to the chief justice of the Sindh High Court to take suo motu notice of the deal to dole out 48,000 government jobs among the workers and supporters of ruling parties.

Mr Khuhro has submitted that under the reported agreement between Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim and leaders of his coalition partner Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the two sides had decided to distribute the vacancies in various provincial departments as ‘political quota’ at a ratio of 60:40.

He has also referred to the statement of MQM chief Altaf Hussain asking his party workers to prepare the lists for employment in the government departments and defer other organisational work.

Mr Khuhro said that unemployment and denial of government jobs on merit had been established as the major factor contributing to the alarming rise in the trend of suicide in jobless youth in Sindh, claiming that some 8,845 people had committed suicide in 12 districts of Sindh between 2001 and 2005 and unemployment appeared to be one of the major reasons.

He requested the chief justice to save thousands of jobless people of the province from committing suicide as such decisions by the ruling parties would further encourage those inclined to such a trend.

He further requested the chief justice to help stop implementation of the agreement and ensure that all jobs were given on merit through a transparent process.—PPI