Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister approves quota for minorities for all government jobs in the province

ASSIST News Service (ANS)
http://www.assistnews.net
Sunday, October 4, 2009

Pakistan Punjab Chief Minister approves quota for minorities for all government jobs in the province

By Dan Wooding and Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special to ASSIST News Service
LAHORE, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Mian Shahbaz Sharif, the Chief Minister of the Pakistani province of Punjab, has approved a five percent employment quota for Pakistani minorities for all government jobs in the province, ANS has learnt from sources privy to this information.
Mr. Sharif approved the job quota for minorities due to the efforts of Mr. Kamran Michael, the Provincial Minister for Minorities and Human rights, said our sources.
It is believed that initially the Punjab government was considering allocating a two or three percent job quota to minorities but agreed to stipulate the five percent quota after minority members in the provincial assembly voiced their dissent to the proposal.
The approval of the five percent job quota for Punjabi non-Muslims (mainly Christians) comes months after the Federal government approved such a job quota for Christians in all jobs following the efforts of Pakistan Federal Minister for Minorities, Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti.
The Pakistan cabinet on Thursday (May 21, 2009) approved a five percent job quota in federal government services for Pakistani minorities (non Muslims).
“Pakistan is a federation. After the announcement of a fixed quota for minorities by Federal government it was mandatory for provincial governments to follow suit,” said Professor Anjum James Paul, a human rights activist and a lecturer in political science in Pakistan.
He maintained that “one would only think there was absence of consensus or a clash between federal government and provincial governments” on the issue if “the latter did not implement a job quota for minorities.”

Mr. Anjum said allocation of the quota was a constitutional requirement because the constitution of Pakistan ensures rights and protection of minorities.
ANS understands that Pakistani minorities often face problems in getting jobs commensurate with their qualifications. Christians also face difficulties in getting promotion to a level appropriate to their qualifications and experience, or in getting a job at all.
Anjum believed that the announcement of the five percent quota by the Punjab government would help mitigate the “sense of deprivation” among Pakistani Christians, the lowest of the low in Islamic republic of Pakistan.
Hailing this good news for the Christian minority of Pakistan, Anjum said it would “help heal the wounds they suffered during recent incidents of violence against them,” alluding to the recent killings of Christians in Gojra in August after violence broke out following accusations that Christians had committed blasphemy.
Mr. Anjum demanded that the government of Punjab “should ensure retrospective implementation of the quota in those departments where recruitment was made after the announcement of fixed quota by the federal government.”

He feared that the benefits of the approved job quota would not trickle down to the Christians if they were not employed on the basis of this quota in recently filled vacancies.

Asked to elaborate, Mr. Anjum said that the Punjab government might announce new vacancies after several years. He also demanded that instead of sending Christian beneficiaries of the quota to far-flung places they should be appointed on jobs close to their residences.

“This will avoid them painfully long commuting,” he said.