SUKKUR, Jan 8: If 1,000 employees of the Sindh Agriculture Storage and Supply Organization are sacked on Jan 31 as has been planned, they will launch a movement which will include self-immolation.

This was threatened by the Sasso Employees Union at its meeting held here on Wednesday. The meeting discussed a decision to sack 1,000 employees of the department on Jan 31, taken at a meeting of the Sasso winding up committee in Karachi on Dec 31, 2003. .

Speaking at the union meeting, the secretary-general of the union, Mohammad Ayub Bhutto, said that the sacking would be against the decision of the Sindh High Court as the employees were not offered jobs in other departments and they were also not paid the golden handshake amount.

He said the government had submitted a written statement before the SHC that the employees would not be sacked without paying them the golden handshake amount or giving them employments in other departments. He said resentment was prevailing among the employees due to the decision of the committee. The union leader said the employees would resist the move.

PROTESTED: A married woman was shot dead by unidentified armed men the other day for unknown reasons. Relatives of the deceased woman, Shahzadi, held a protest demonstration outside the Kandhkot Taluka hospital where her body was shifted for post-mortem.