HATTIAN BALA (Kashmir English): Ad-hoc, contract, and temporary employees of the Jhelum Valley district have demanded permanent status and announced a protest on Wednesday, April 23.
Addressing a press conference at the District Press Club, Hattian Bala, the representative of Ad-hoc employees, announced a major protest in Muzaffarabad on April 23, if their demands are not met.
The representatives said that the government had formed a committee in response to the previous 17-day sit-in in Muzaffarabad,
The committee was formed to make the employees permanent within 45 days through legislation, but so far, there has been no practical progress in this regard, Ad-hoc Employees representative Shafqat Tareen said.
The attendees said that the government is only working with childish consolations while the ground realities are that the employees are constantly facing uncertainty.
They warned that if their demands are not accepted, they will have no option but to commit mass self-immolations.
President Shafqat Tareen, General Secretary Zahid Iqbal, Focal Person Ashfaq Awan, Naeem Tanoli, Muhammad Siddique Abbasi, Sheikh Muhammad Maqsood, Faizan Ahmed, Zahid Shah Kazmi, and Saghir Mirza addressed the press conference.
He said that many employees are over 50 years of age and have been serving in government institutions for years. Several workers have risked their lives working for the government, but their sacrifices are being ignored.
The speakers added that the former PML-N government had made ad hoc employees permanent through regular legislation, and that the same act should be restored, and all eligible employees should be made permanent.
They said that dismissing an employee and recruiting another person on an ad hoc basis in the same place is a massacre of merit and a reflection of the policy of like and dislike, which will not be accepted under any circumstances.
The participants of the press conference gave the example of the federal government, the four provinces, and Gilgit-Baltistan, saying that ad hoc employees have been made permanent in these areas, only in Azad Kashmir there is a delay.
They demanded that the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, the Chief Secretary, the Chief of Army Staff, the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of Pakistan recognize their services through immediate legislation and make them permanent.
Finally, the Central Core Committee announced a big protest demonstration in Muzaffarabad on April 23, in which, they said, employees of the Jhelum Valley district will participate. They warned that if their demands were not accepted, the protest would be extended to the entire Azad Kashmir.
The employees clarified that these jobs are their only source of livelihood, and they have been serving honestly for the past several years, so the government should make them permanent as per the constitution and law.
