ISLAMABAD: Despite a public rhetoric, the Punjab government, too, has informally allowed MPs belonging to the PML-N and the Unification Block of the PML-Q to get their choice candidates appointed to government jobs.
Though officially this is denied both at political and bureaucratic levels, information retrieved from a computer of one of provincial departments reflects how almost 110 favourites of lawmakers have been short-listed for appointments in just one office.
These appointments are sought in the low scale jobs in BS-1 to BS-5. As per the government rules, these posts are required to be filled through a transparent procedure, but in the case of Agriculture Department, everything has been finalised even before the final interviews of the candidates.
In the first week of February 2011, the Punjab Agriculture Research Department advertised almost 133 low scale (BS-1 to BS-5) posts for Ayub Agriculture Research Institute, Faisalabad. It is not clear how many thousands have applied for these jobs, but the computer managed by the institute’s deputy director administration and accounts Malik Hayat Azad has already finalised a list of almost 110 candidates, all recommended by the local PML-N MPs, against each advertised post.
The completion of appointment process though awaits the final interviews is being delayed because of the unavailability of concerned directions, sources in the department insist the list as reflected in the institute’s computer is final.
The institute’s director general, Dr Noorul Islam Khan, when contacted, categorically denied this and assured that all appointments would be made on merit. He said he was not aware of any computer list of final candidates, but explained the public representatives all over the world, even in the United States, do write re-commendatory letters. He said parliamentarians in Pakistan do have to take care of their electorate, but it should be ensured that the deserving candidates are not denied their right.
His administration officer Malik Hayat Azad, when contacted, also denied that there exists any final list of the candidates for appointments in his computer.
However, some credible sources in the department provided both soft and hard copies of the list, which contain all the relevant details, including the names of the MPs on whose recommendations the favourites are being appointed. Since the jobs relate to Faisalabad, therefore, the share of these jobs is also distributed among the PML-N and pro-government PML-Q MPs from the same area.
New agency is also in possession of some of the letters of recommendations sent by the ruling MPs of Punjab to the Ayub Agriculture Research Institute. In one such case, the PML-N MNA and chairman Standing Committee on Textile Industry, Haji Muhammad Akram Ansari, formally sent the list of seven of his favourites to the institute. Most of the recommended candidates are reflected in the final list.
According to details, MPs from Faisalabad division include Rana Sanullah, Sardar Dildar Cheema, Akram Ansari, Ajmal Asif, Abid Sher Ali, Raza Nasrullah Ghuman, Zafar Iqbal Nagra, Shafique Gujjar, Kh Muhammad Islam, Rai Muhammad Ijaz, Malik M Nawaz, Shahid Khalil Noor, Rao Kashif Raheem and Dr Khalid Imtiaz Khan Baloch.
The names of the recommended candidates include Rustam Ali, Gohar Ali, Arif Hussain, Muhammad Afzal, Muhammad Asif, Akbar Ali, Makhdoom Sabir, Awais Ashraf, Muhammad Ilyas, Intisarul Hassan, Mehran Maqsood, Muhammad Asif Nadeem, Ashiq Ali, Khalida Bibi, Shamoon Masih, Khalid Iqbal, Munawar Hussain Muhammad Tayyab, Mahmood Tahir Khan, Muhammad Usman Akbar, Sanaullah, Asif s/o Ghulam Jillani, Gulam Mustafa, Sajad Hussain, Faisalur Rehman, Muhammad Awais, Asghar Ali Shah, Habib Ahmad, Mubashar Iqbal, Muhammad Jabar, Pawal Francis, Hamad Ali, Khyzar Hayat, Amjad Hussain, M Tahir Saleem, Javed Iqbal, Sakhawat Ali, Muhammad Dilshad Bajwa, Shahid Mehmood, Rafaqat Ali, Navid Anjum, Tayyab Kamran, Asif Mahmood, Mauhammad Irfan, Muhammad Ashfaq, Muhammad Ilyas, Sarfraz, Imran Aleem, Ghazanfar Ali, Muhammad Nadeem Akhtar, Shujat Ali, Shah Behram, Hafiz Sajad Jahangir, Asif Masih, Aamar Jamshed, Sajjad Karim, Bismillah Shah, Umar Hayat Ghoori, Muhammad Iqbal, Muhmmad Siddiqi, Ehsanul Haq, Muhammad Nawaz, Muhammad Imran, Faisal Shahzad, Shahzad Imran, Muhammad Qasim, Sohail Ahmad, Muhammad Sufayan, M Ishaq, Amar Mahmood, Muhammad Asif, Qurban Ali, Navid Ahmad, Muhammad Afzal, Mumtaz Ali, Usman Tariq, Liaqat Ali, Ikramul Haq, Muhammad Qurban, Wasim Saleem, Zulfiqar Ali, Aftab Alam, Sarfraz Ahmad, Muhammad Navid, Umer Rashid, Muhammad Khalil, Muhammad Hussain, Muhammad Sajjad, Naeen Gohar, Muhammad Imran, Tariq Hussain and Muhammad Arif.
