A group of Pakistan People's Party (PPP) workers from Lyari on Saturday demanded of the government to provide them employment at the PQA at the earliest threatened to go for self-immolation, if the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) did not issue their joining letters within next 24 hours.
Dozens of PPP workers from Lyari had demonstrated at Karachi Press Club against termination of at least 80 PQA staff belonging to their area on the alleged directives of the PQA Chairman, Mir Afsar Din Talpur and Director General, Prime Minister Unemployment Force, Ghulam Qadir Jamot in January. 'Two of us would burn ourselves in front of the Karachi Press Club, if the PQA does not issue our joining letters within next 24 hours,' the PPP Vice President from 109, Lyari, Akhtar Baloch warned.
He was leading a 'hunger strike camp for the affected PQA staff at the KPC, where a dozen of his party workers held photos of Benazir Bhutto, banners and placards requesting the Federal Minister for Ports and Shipping, Babar Ghauri to get them their due right.
The protestors also provided Business Recorder with a 'Medical Examination' letter issued by the Human Resources Management department of PQA to one of the affected PQA workers wherein he was asked to appear for a medical examination at PNS Shifa, Karachi.
The letter also asked the candidate, who was to be appointed as A/C Mechanic Helper (BS-02), to submit his fitness certificate to the concerned department 'within 08 days from the date (December 12, 2008) of receipt of this letter.'
'We spent around Rs 3,200 (each) on medical test, but now they are not employing us,' Muhammad Javed said, while showing a PNS-Shifa's certificate to Business Recorder, supporting the physical and mental fitness of the applicant. According to protestors, the State Minister for Ports and Shipping, Nabeel Gabol, who represents Lyari in the Lower House was a 'helpless' official with no powers to get them employed.