Pakistan: Over 4,000 govt posts for Balochistan lie vacant

As the incumbent federal government struggles to introduce legislation to extend a lapsed regional quota system for direct recruitment, over 4,000 posts reserved for Balochistan in 52 departments are currently lying vacant, The Express Tribune has learnt. Against the 10,000 federal government posts reserved for Balochistan under the 6% quota allocated to Balochistan, only 6,141 government employees have domicile for the province, a special committee tasked to deal with issues pertaining to Balochistan has identified. Around 272 of the vacancies reserved for Balochistan in various ministries and attached departments are BPS-17 to BPS-21 positions, according to the committee’s findings, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune.

The quota system, prescribed under Article 27(1) of the Constitution, was set to expire on August 14, 2013. The federal cabinet approved measures to amend the article and extend the system three weeks before it expired. Since then, however, there has been no progress on the 23rd amendment bill, through which the government seeks to extend the quota system for 20 years. According to the committee’s findings, the bulk of these vacant posts belong to the ministry of water and power. It identified as many as 1,022 such positions in the ministry.

The findings of the establishment division, however, put the number a little higher: it identified 1,459 vacant posts reserved for Balochistan in the water and power ministry.

According to the establishment division, another 590 such posts belong to the defence ministry, 581 to the Ministry of Defence Production, 367 to the Postal Service, 138 to the industries ministry, 133 to the finance ministry, 125 to the Federal Tax Ombudsman’s Secretariat, 121 to the Cabinet Division, 107 to the Ministry of Commerce, 104 to Capital Administration and Development, 69 to Pakistan Railways, 49 to the petroleum ministry, 42 to the National Accountability Bureau, 28 to the ministry of overseas Pakistanis and human resources development, 24 each to the ministries of interior and narcotics control, and information, and 23 to the law ministry.

Twenty posts belong to the science and technology ministry, 19 each to the ministries of education and training, and communications, 15 to the Ministry of National Food Security, 13 each to the statistics department and Ministry of Religious Affairs , 11 to the planning and development ministry, six each to the establishment division and Federal Ombudsman’s Secretariat, four to the human rights department, two each to the ministries of ports and shipping, inter-provincial coordination and information technology, and President Secretariat (public), and one each in the Election Commission and the ministries of privatisation, foreign affairs and parliamentary affairs.

Interestingly, there are no jobs reserved for Balochistan in the President Secretariat (personal), Prime Minister Secretariat, Senate, National Assembly and Supreme Court, the findings of the committee on Balochistan further revealed. The government was legally bound to get the 23rd amendment bill passed by parliament before August 30, 2013, Pakistan Peoples Party Senator Raza Rabbani said. “Under current laws, there is no quota for provinces in federal government jobs,” he added.

“The proposed 23rd amendment bill is currently pending with the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice,” said the committee chairman, Bashir Virk.

Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch also wrote to the federal government last week, asking it to expedite recruitment against the 4,000-plus vacant posts reserved for the province. “The private sector [in Balochistan] is dormant and the educated youth of the province mainly relies on the public sector for employment… the process to provide [them] employment opportunities should be put on the fast track,” read the chief minister’s letter to the establishment division. “Passing the 23rd amendment will end the sense of deprivation among small provinces,” Senator Rabbani said. He criticised both the incumbent and previous governments for failing to resolve the Balochistan issue. “The Aghaz-e-Haqooq-e-Balochistan package stands nowhere… it seems it’s a forgotten chapter now,” lamented Rabbani – who looked after the multi-billion rupee project under the PPP government.

Baloch MNA Syed Essa Noori said he had taken up the issue in Parliament, but in vain. “No one listens to our voice… it is utter discrimination against Balochistan,” he said. “A majority of federal government employees got their jobs after obtaining fake domiciles from Balochistan… this issue must be resolved,” he added.