THATTA, May 17 Almost all the elected representatives belonging to both treasury and opposition benches from Thatta district have expressed concern over induction of about 300 employees in the district, mostly in lower grades, from outside the district, and appealed to the president and the prime minister to take notice and restore justice to local unemployed youth.

In interviews conducted at Makli Gymkhana and on cell phones, PPP MNA Dr Abdul Wahid Soomro, Sindh Minister for Culture Sassui Palijo and MPAs Sadiq Ali Memon, Haji Usman Jalbani and Humaira Alwani regretted that over 300 youth from outside Thatta have been recruited in irrigation, health, works and services, forest, population welfare, education, revenue, fisheries, agriculture and public health and engineering departments, besides the National Commission for Human Development.

The legislators claimed that the ministers of these departments have broken all records of favouritism and nepotism by accommodating 300 unemployed youth of their districts, allegedly without any interview, test or other mandatory procedures, in Thatta district.

MNA Soomro claimed that he had contested the case of unemployed youth of Thatta at all available forums, also before the chief minister of Sindh. He warned that if justice was not restored to Thatta's unemployed youth, he and his political colleagues would launch a protest campaign this 'wrong doing'.

MNA Syed Ayaz Ali Shah Shirazi and MPA Shah Hussain Shah Shirazi of the opposition benches said that 30 to 35 youths from Nawabshah have been appointed in Thatta district's health department, 16 from Badin in forest department, 16 from Sukkur, Nawabshah, Khairpur and other towns in Elementary College Makli and 25 youths from Khairpur have been appointed in Works and Services Department. Overall more than 300 outsiders have been accommodated in BPS 1 to 11 in Thatta district, the Shirazis said.

Activists of Thatta Berozgar Committee had protested outside the Medical Superintendent Office of the Civil Hospital Makli on April 27 when 45 newly-appointed youths from Jamshoro, Dadu, Naushahro Feroze and Nawabshah districts brought their documents and appointment letters for Grade 1 to 7 posts in Thatta Irrigation and Drainage Department to get Medical Fitness Certificates.

On May 3, dozens of local unemployed youths took out a procession, staged a demonstration in Thatta and burnt copies of their degrees in front of the local press club.

This correspondent interviewed over a dozen of unemployment youths — all activists of Thatta Berozgar Committee — and found them equally critical of the parliamentarians belonging to Thatta district.

They said that apart from the 300 jobs given to outsiders through the elected representatives of their constituencies, the practice of nepotism, favouritism and corruption in providing jobs by the local legislators was not different in the district.

A local politician, they alleged, had got recruited about 250 youths belonging to his caste in different departments.

The activists said they can identify prominent legislators of the district who got recruited their sons and nephews on officer grades from their quota and ignored merit.

The unbecoming behaviour of parliamentarians belonging to other districts, majority of them ministers or having close relations with a VVIP, has intensified sense of deprivation and desperation among the PPP's rank and file in Thatta.

Seeking a thorough inquiry and scrutiny of documents of these 300 outsiders, members of the Thatta Berozgar Committee alleged that most of the appointees were getting salary but not attending their duties regularly.

When contacted, advisor to the Sindh chief minister on information Jamil Soomro said “Depriving local youth of jobs of lower grade is a condemnable act and I would not support such discrimination.” The adviser said he was not aware of the facts and failed to offer official version on the issue.