KARACHI, Jan 9: Taking benefit of the presence of United Arab Emirates (UAE) ruler Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan in the country, the former employees of Daira al-Khasa Pakistan (DAKP), the organisation which looked after the palaces and residential compounds of Sheikh Khalifa’s father, have urged the king to pay their pending dues and benefits.

Speaking at a press conference recently at the Karachi Press Club, employees’ representatives, Kamal Alvi, Lateef Ahmed, Asif Ibrahim and Naek Mohammad, said that over 1,000 employees had been associated with the DAKP for up to 35 years but were laid off in 2006 when the organisation was shut down following the death of former UAE ruler Sheikh Zayed.

The representatives said that they were paid token amounts when they were laid off, but weren’t given benefits such as housing, medical, education and transportation allowance, and pension.

For settling the pending benefits, which the representatives said amounted to between $20 million and $25 million, they suggested that the payment be made in the form of 15 gratuities for each year of service.

The employees’ representatives suspected that Chaudhry Muneer, the man looking after the interests of Sheikh Khalifa in Pakistan, was probably not apprising the king of the actual situation. They said that they had always sent their documents to Mr Muneer who had assured them that their problems would be solved but nothing had materialized from his assurances. They said that if Sheikh Khalifa knew about the real situation he would have instantly took care of the employee’s problems.

The representatives said the token amount had been paid to them as a ‘tip’ for which they were grateful to Sheikh Khalifa. However, since most of the employees had served their best years with the DAKP they could not find alternative employments and were facing financial hardships. They should be paid their dues, they added.

Citing the case of one of their colleagues, Sher Mohammad, who was the personal chauffeur of Sheikh Khalifa’s father, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, the representatives shared that Sher Mohammad has to have his leg amputated because of diabetes since he could not afford proper treatment. They said that the late king used to call him ‘Sheru’ and the current UAE ruler had gone to London for medical treatment under his care when he was a child.

The representatives said that they were making this demand for the last time so that Sheikh Khalifa became aware of their problems and took them up. If their demands were not met, they said, they would have no choice but to seek the court’s help.

Before the press conference, a large number of DAKP employees staged a protest demonstration outside the press club and chanted slogans in support of their demands.