KARACHI, March 31: Former employees of the Darul Khasa (Department of Personal Affairs) in Pakistan, an organisation of the Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahayan (late) ex-ruler of Abu Dhabi, have requested his son and the United Arab Emirates president to provide them jobs or compensate them properly.

Speaking at a press conference at Karachi Press Club on Saturday, the representatives of the former employees – Alvi, Asif, Jawad, Hassan and Latif paid tributes to the late ruler for, what they described, his love with his servants.

They said the services of 1,500 DPA employees were terminated without any reason though many of them had served the late ruler for 10 to 40 years.

All the employees were given only one single gratuity for each year of services, he said adding that it should have been at least 10 salaries for each year in addition to the increments.

They said even the government of Pakistan gave a very attractive golden hand shake to the employees of Steel Mills and Rice Export Corporation of Pakistan, when they were laid off.

They also demanded payment of gratuity to the temporary employees for their entire period of service.

It was said that most of the employees were close to the age of retirement and their termination without proper compensation had caused serious financial problems for them.

They said the DPA chairman had sanctioned Rs12,152,281 on August 2, 2004 for medical benefits of the employees and their families which, they said, had not been paid so far.

Four housing schemes and colonies were built for the employees in Rahim Yar Khan, they said adding that no such facility has been provided to the employees in Karachi.

Many employees were suffering and they could not afford medical expenditure, they said adding that some of the employees had lost hands during their duty hours, but they had not been compensated yet.

They urged the United Arab Emirates (UAE) ruler Shaikh Khalifa to grant special funds to cover the pension, housing, medical as well as children education expenses for all the ex-employees of DPA in Pakistan.

They accused the Department of Personal Affairs (DPA) management of sacking the employees without taking the chairman into confidence.

If provision of jobs facilities was not possible the ex-employees be compensated financially so that they could arrange any alternative source of income, they said adding that the best years of their lives were over.