HYDERABAD, Jan 16 Sacked employees of various organisations including the SSGC, the OGDC, IB, PSO, CAA, State Life, NHA, UBL, PTCL, Steel Mills, Port Qasim and the PIA, at a convention held at the press club threatened to launch a protest movement from Jan 19 if they were not reinstated.

Speaking on the occasion, the president of the Sacked Employees' Action Committee, Zulfiqar Qadri, reminded the PPP government that Benazir Bhutto had publicly declared that as soon as the PPP came into power, sacked employees of all the organisations would be reinstated.

He said that under the orders of President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani had appointed a committee headed by Syed Naveed Qamar, which had recommended that all the sacked employees should be reinstated.

He said that another committee headed by Raza Rabbani was also appointed, which not only recommended reinstatement of sacked employees but had also recommended that they should be paid three-year salary and granted due promotions.

He said that despite these recommendations, bureaucracy was creating hurdles in the process. As a result, he said, 8,000 dismissed employees and their families were starving.

He said that sacked employees would stage protest demonstrations in Islamabad on Jan 19 and a series of hunger strikes in front of the Parliament House. He warned that if the sacked employees were not reinstated by Feb 5, sacked employees would start committing self-immolation outside the President House.

Mushtaq Jokhio, Khadim Khoso, Nawaz Panhwar and others also spoke. After the convention, they also staged a protest demonstration in front of the press club.

SPLA The Sindh Professors and Lecturers Association will launch a protest movement against delay in the solution of college teachers' problems.

The decision was taken by the Association's committee during a meeting at the Government Sachal Sarmast Arts and Commerce College here on Friday.

Prof Ummatul Sami presided over the meeting which was attended by Prof Liaquat Aziz, Prof Athar Mirza, Prof Iftikhar Azmi, Prof Mohsin Bhatti and others.

It criticised the indifferent attitude of Education Department in resolving the long standing problems of college teachers. It said that the protest movement included observance of black days, protest demonstrations and hunger strikes. The schedule will be announced in Karachi on Jan 20.

It demanded confirmation of ad-hoc lecturers, posting orders of commission pass lecturers, filling of 1,000 vacant posts in Grade-18, 19 through promotions and increase in non-attractive allowance of college teachers working in interior Sindh.

The meeting further demanded filling of 3,600 vacant posts of lecturers in 242 colleges without delay, removal of retired officers appointed on contract and confirmation of incharge college principals.