Open Letter to Prime Minster of Pakistan and Senate Committee on Law and Justice Subject: Violation of the provincial job quotas by HEC and its recognized federal public sector Universities This is apropos of the news ‘VCs of KP varsities unhappy with HEC’s biased attitude’ (Dawn, July 3, 2014). We couldn’t agree more with the expression of the VCs of the KP varsities as the situation for Sindh and Baluchistan is even worse than that of KP. We have repeatedly demanded the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to ensure provincial job quotas as enshrined in article 27 of the constitution of Pakistan so as to ‘safeguard against discrimination in services’. Despite repeated promises by the former Executive Director who has now become the incumbent Chairperson HEC there has not been any positive action on this gross violation of the constitutional rights of smaller provinces. It is not just the job and admission quotas which are being violated but it is also a bitter fact that smaller provinces specially Sindh and Baluchistan are continuously being grossly discriminated in terms of HEC scholarships, travel grants, training opportunities, placement of foreign returned PhD holders, research and development projects and other funding opportunities. This discrimination was evident from the very data shared by the incumbent Chairman HEC in a dialogue with FAPUASA Sindh Chapter held in Karachi. It is an irony that instead of taking any affirmative action, HEC is all set to continue repressive and discriminative based policies. Recent incident of removal of a Sindh based Director who served HEC for 3 years and was qualifying to be promoted to Director General is yet another example of continuation of the biased attitude of HEC towards smaller provinces. We demand the prime minister who is the controlling authority of the HEC and also the Senate Committee on Law and Justice to constitute a sub-committee consisting of Senators from smaller provinces and also representatives of FAPUASA to conduct comprehensive inquiry on violation of provincial job quotas by HEC and its recognized federal public sector Universities. The findings of this inquiry must be made public and necessary affirmative action be guaranteed to compensate the loss. Dr Azhar Ali Shah President Sindh University Teachers’ Association (SUTA) & Vice President Federation of All Pakistan Universities Academic Staff Association (FAPUASA) 03444475560 [email protected]
Posted on: Sun, 06 Jul 2014 06:23:15 +0000
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