Lack of transparency in sell-off: Bank employees' plea to President, Prime Minister

Employees of a bank have appealed to President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to order impartial inquiry into the privatisation of a national bank. They said in the appeal submitted before the Apex Court that Habib Bank was privatised worth Rs 22.409 billion while the market value of its assets was Rs 75 billion.
They said privatisation of the bank was not conducted in a transparent manner for which former President Pervez Musharraf and former Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz were held responsible. They claimed that the previous governments privatised other banks including UBL but during this process they protected the rights and benefits of the employees. But during the privatisation of HBL, Musharraf government compromised the rights and benefits of the employees.
They said the employees of the bank are facing economic crisis because their salaries were not increased during last 10 years. In the appeal, they said the bank should resume health facilities to the employees and their parents and increase their salaries keeping in view the ratio of price hike.
They appealed for restoration of increment system - 15 percent raise in basic salaries - as being done in case of other private banks. All the employees should be paid for the frozen leave, they said. They also appealed to the PPP government to constitute a parliamentary committee to co-ordinate with the employees of the Bank and to consider their genuine demands, as per the appeal filed by Habib Bank Progressive Officers Association of Pakistan, they added.