MULTAN, Dec 1: The employees of the Punjab ombudsman office held a hunger strike camp and demonstrated outside the sealed office in protest against delaying the appointment of the provincial ombudsman and closure of the offices here on Monday.

About 30 employees of the regional ombudsman office in Multan lost job on Saturday (Nov 30) after their contracts expired and the staff of the district coordination office sealed the office.

Multan Public Protection and Welfare Council chief organiser Tahir Mumtaz Bhutta said owing to the absence of the provincial ombudsman, an administrative vacuum had been created.

He said the office had been run for a long time through contractual employees. Even though the government awarded permanent status to all contractual workers of other departments, the employees of the ombudsman office were denied the status, he claimed.

He said the office had provided relief and justice to scores of helpless people of the province. The office helped widows and orphans get pension and the needy people benevolent funds.

He demanded the immediate appointment of the ombudsman and giving permanent status to the employees so that the hearing of pending applications could be started.

Atif Shehzad, an employee of the Multan ombudsman office, said the office was established in 1987 to provide immediate justice to the poor.

He said after viewing the effectiveness and importance of the office, regional offices were established in Multan, Rawalpindi and Sargodha.

He said about 288 employees were performing their duty in all offices, now all in the face of losing job. He said even though the Pakistan People’s Party claimed to be the representative of the poor, the provincial government had damaged the economic interests of 288 families.

He demanded President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Governor Samlaan Taseer and Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ensure the appointment of the ombudsman and reinstatement of employees.

The contract of ombudsman Abdul Rasheed Khan ended on May 15, 2008, after completing his four-year tenure.

The Punjab government notified former PCB chairman Khalid Mahmood Khan for the post and sent summary for the approval to Governor Taseer. Mr Taseer neither objected to the appointment nor administrated his oath.