ACCORDING to recent press reports, the federal government did not fill about 36,000 vacancies meant for Sindh last year.

Although the PPP government always makes claims of employing more youth from Sindh during its tenure, the recent figures for federal jobs paint a gloomy picture.

As a result of such apathy, the rate of unemployment of educated Sindhi youths is increasing day by day. The young, uneducated men from Sindh either commit suicide or become dacoits because of financial problems resulting from unemployment. Unemployment among Sindhi youth has also increased crimes such as kidnapping for ransom.

It is the duty of the elected leaders to provide employment in federal and provincial governments, as well as in the private sector, to the educated young men from rural areas of Sindh. This needs to be done especially because of high inflation and an increase in criminal activities in interior of Sindh.

According to an editorial in a Sindhi language daily (Feb 8), the total number of employees working in the federal government departments is 440,150. According to the quota, about 50,976 jobs, which is 11.4 per cent of total vacancies, should be for people from rural areas of Sindh. However, the federal government did not provide 36,000 jobs to people from Sindh.

In the editorial, it had been demanded of the government to take strict action against the ministries and issue directives for providing more jobs to the educated unemployed youth from rural areas of Sindh.

Dr ALI AKBAR DHAKAN Chairman Sindh Development Foundation Karachi