ISLAMABAD, Nov 23 Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Naveed Qamar on Monday ordered immediate reinstatement of all 'eligible' sacked employees of the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL).

The minister, according to an official announcement, directed the SNGPL authorities to “ensure immediate release of employees arrested in Lahore during a protest” and “reinstate all such employees who are eligible for reinstatement and submit a report” in 24 hours.

Hundreds of SNGPL employees sacked during the second government of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1997, have been protesting for the past six months, demanding reinstatement and payment of dues under an ordinance promulgated by President Asif Zardari in February this year.

A source told Dawn that over 750 employees of the SNGPL who were given jobs during PPP's second government between 1993 and 1996, were sacked by the Nawaz Sharif government in 1997 and 1998 and they were still waiting to be reinstated.

An action committee, formed by the protesters, had set Nov 27 as deadline for acceptance of their demands and threatened to launch a campaign if they were not reinstated by then.

Earlier, a cabinet committee had approved the reinstatement of 7,700 government employees sacked during the above-mentioned period.

The government had announced that the plan would cost the national exchequer Rs7-8 billion over three years, besides a recurring cost of Rs2 billion a year.

All reinstated workers were supposed to be paid compensation equal to three years' emoluments in their pay-scales.

The protesters alleged that the company's management was obstructing their reinstatement in violation of government orders.

Senator Raza Rabbani has repeatedly raised the issue in the parliament as well as in party meetings and drawn the attention of PPP leaders towards non-implementation of the cabinet's decision by some bureaucrats and heads of the com- panies who, he said, were challenging the writ of the government.