ISLAMABAD: Member National Assembly from NA-1 Chitral Molana Abdul Akbar has submitted a privilege motion in the house against appointment of outsiders on low grade posts by Pakistan Post in Chitral.
The Pakistan Post is a subsidiary department of the Ministry of Communications which is headed by JUI-F MNA Mufti Asad Mehmood as minister.
The Chitrali MNA belongs to the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party. In the 2018 elections, the two religious parties contested the elections under the banner of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA).
The National Assembly seat of Chitral was won by Abdul Akbar while the lone provincial seat was grabbed by Molana Hidayatur Rehman of the JUI-F.
In his privilege motion submitted to the National Assembly, the MNA said the Pakistan Post had committed gross irregularities in hiring low- grade staff in his constituency of NA-1 Chitral.
He said the low-grade posts were the right of the local people but the Pakistan Post inducted outsiders by trampling merit and robbing the local youth of their due right.
The MNA said in the year 2022 Pakistan Post had advertised vacant posts of junior clerks and class IV in Chitral. The candidates from all parts of Chitral completed the process of applying for the jobs and also sat the test.
In the meantime, at a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Communications, the MNA said, he stressed the need to fill the posts in a transparent manner and to appoint local youth on the posts.
He said the officials concerned of the Postal Department at the meeting had assured him that the appointments would be made on merit and in a transparent manner.
However, a few days ago it transpired that at least eight posts had been filled by candidates from outside Chitral such as Peshawar etc., ignoring the local youth.
The MNA said it was not only breach of his privilege as a member of the house but also a broad daylight robbery on the right of the people of Chitral.
He demanded immediate inquiry into the illegal appointments and action against all those involved in it.
It may be recalled that induction of outsiders ignoring candidates from Chitral had also been made in scores of posts in the newly-created district of Upper Chitral.
The appointments of outsiders in 2021 included two computer operators, two junior clerks, one driver, one watchman and one naib qasid.
Four of the appointees were from Peshawar and one each from Swabi, Mardan and Nowshera.