KP shows better representation than Sindh does

WASIM IQBAL

ISLAMABAD: Establishment Division has been compiling the latest data of representation of senior officers in federal government from smaller provinces following a complaint launched by Sindh Government, it has been learnt.

Sources maintained that Government of Sindh requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (in-charge Minister of Establishment Division) to take urgent measures to ensure that the federal bureaucracy has appropriate representation of officers from Sindh in accordance with the Constitution.

The inadequate representation of officers from the smaller province is giving a sense of deprivation in the province, sources said quoting the letter.

The Constitution envisages adequate representation from all the provinces in the federal bureaucracy according to population but there has always been inadequate representation from the smaller provinces, the letter adds.

Urgent steps need to be taken to give required representation to Sindh at the level of federal secretaries and chief secretaries according to the population of the province, the letter states; and further suggested that special promotions be given to the officers working in BPS-21 and 22 from the province of Sindh to maintain the provincial ratio in these grades.

Sources further said that the provincial government also asked that the officers who had been cleared by the Central Selection Board for promotion to BPS-21 should not be discriminated against on the grounds that they had served on important positions in the Pakistan Peoples Party government.

Sources in Establishment Division said that at present out of the 39 senior most officers running various divisions at the federal level 26 secretaries are from Punjab. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is at number two with seven secretaries. Three federal secretaries are from Sindh while Gilgit-Baltistan has one secretary at the federal level. Balochistan has only an acting secretary of grade 21.

The latest Annual Statistical Bulletin of Federal Government Employees 2012-13 reveals the share of the provinces on the basis of their quota in actual strength of 446,816 employees: Punjab has 46.05 percent share (including1.89 percent Islamabad) followed by KPK 27.93 percent share (which is due to large number of 94,777 employees in Civil Armed Forces (CAF) with KPK domicile under Ministry of Interior); Sindh has 13.14 percent share (Sindh Rural 6.53 percent and Sindh Urban 6.60 percent) while share for Gilgit-Baltistan, Balochistan, FATA and AJ&K is 6.14 percent, 4.12 percent, 1.61 percent and 1.03 percent respectively.