Five percent job quota for minorities: Provinces urged to implement government policy

Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti on Friday urged the provincial governments to allocate five percent job quota for minorities in provincial departments in accordance with the Federal government's policy.
The Minister said the Federal government had issued a notification on May 26 in this regard and it was being implemented in all the Federal ministries, their subordinate offices, divisions and other offices under the Federal government.
"Provincial governments are recruiting civil servants on large scale, but are not implementing the Federal government's decision of five percent job quota for minorities, and, therefore, they are depriving the minorities of this benefit," he added.
Bhatti appealed to provincial governments to implement this policy in recruiting process, and said that the ministry has already dispatched letter to all the concerned departments of the provincial governments.
He said that the minority communities were pleased with the decision of the Federal government and declared it a historic step. He said that the government's decision to reserve five- percent job quota in civil services for minorities should be implemented strictly so that the poverty level among the minorities of Pakistan could be decreased.