LAHORE – The provincial cabinet headed by the Chief Minister, Shehbaz Sharif decided in principle to revive 20 percent public sector job quota for three southern divisions of the province.
The move came on Monday during a meeting of the cabinet – that lasted merely for 30 minutes – and is apparently aimed at bagging the support of disgruntled politicians in south Punjab, ahead of upcoming elections.
Besides the residents of south, the Punjab government also mulls including residents of two underdeveloped districts of Sargodha division in the employment quota initiative.
The 20pc job quota was allocated for south Punjab residents in the 1973 Constitution, however, the PML-N’s Punjab government had suspended the quota in 1997 following which, the people from south Punjab had been contesting for public sector jobs on open merit.
In the Constitution, the job quota was given for 20 years as a ‘sunset clause’ and was to expire automatically in 1993.
The Pakistan Peoples Party government in 1993 restored quota for another 20 years till 2013, but it was suspended in 1997 by then Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
During the cabinet meeting, the chief minister apprised his fellows about the progress made under his chair for the development of South Punjab.
“Provision of 36 per cent resources for 31 per cent population is part of this commitment,” he said.
It bears mentioning that after the formation of Junoobi Punjab Suba Mahaz (JPSM) led by MNA Khusro Bakhtiar, the government is highlighting the initiatives taken for bringing south Punjab at par with rest of Punjab.
The JPSM is also endorsed by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan and is gaining ground.
