Nationalists give govt one-day ultimatum

KARACHI - The sit-in, staged by the contractual employees of the National Programme for Improvement of Water Courses (NPIW) continued for the fourth consecutive day here on Monday while nationalist parties of Sindh given a one day ultimatum to the Sindh government to regularize the employees otherwise the protests will be widened to across the provincial. The leaders of different political parties like PML-N, Muhajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami, PML-Q, Sindh Tarraqi Pasand Party, including Haleem Adil Sheikh, Muhammad Hussain Mehnti, Qadir Magsi, Bashir Qureshi, Ismail Rahoo, Ameer Bhunbro, Mumtaz Ali Rind, Hafiz Fazal Karim, Ali Hassan Chandio, Gulzar Soomro, Akhtar Hussain and the JI womens wing showed solidarity with the NPIW workers. While addressing the protestors, Qadir Magsi said that the leaders were showing stubbornness over the matter, adding that in Karachi alone as many as 5,000 people were recruited in the City Police irrespective of merit but the NPIW workers were on contractual bases. He warned and gave the one day ultimatum to the Sindh government to regularize the employees otherwise the protests would be widened to the entire provincial. He lashed out at the government and alleged that the President, Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Governor despite showing solidarity with the protestors charging batons and tear gas through the police. The other leaders also spoke on the occasion and said that the PPP government claims to be the supporter of the poor by having an agenda of Roti, Kapra and Makan but why the government is neglecting these employees who are willing to work, adding that it is the biggest failure of the government not to regularize these workers who are on the roads for the last four days. They paid tribute to the workers for keeping continue the struggle for their just right and demanded the chief justice of Pakistan and the Sindh High Court to take suo moto notice of the injustice with the NIPW employees. The leaders deplored that all parties of the country were showing solidarity with the workers but a single ruling party is neglecting the protestors which is a shameful and condemnable act. According to the Sindh government, the federal funded programme had expired two years ago in 2008 but the PPP government expended it for further two years on 'humanitarian basis as PPP government always worked for welfare and employment of people and it never 'snatched the jobs. However, Sindh Agriculture Minister Syed Ali Nawaz Shah, two days back at a press conference had said that the NPIW programme would expire in June 2010 and the Sindh government had approached the federal government to extend it as large number of water courses yet to be improved but the final say would be that of federal government. Meanwhile no further development was seen after the statements of the minister. It may be noted that PML-Q led previous federal government initiated the programme in 2005 which expired in 2008 but the present government extended it for two years in all the four provinces. Under the programme, at least 1,547 employees from Sindh were working on contractual basis. And now they are protesting seeking regularisation of their jobs and the PML-Q, especially other political parties are reportedly backing the protesters.