The Sindh government has announced a relaxation of up to 15 years in the upper age limit for all applicants applying for job vacancies in all provincial government departments.
A notification to this effect was issued by Chief Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput on Tuesday. The relaxation in the upper age limit is applicable to the job vacancies being filled from the period from July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2024. However, the relaxation in the age criterion will not be applicable to the jobs of the Sindh Police and the posts to be filled through the Combined Competitive Examinations conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission.
JI fears corruption
Criticising the decision, the Jamaat-e-Islami said that in the current circumstances in the province, such types of decisions would facilitate the corrupt mafia, instead of addressing the burning issue of joblessness among the youth.
Dubbing the decision as a publicity stunt, the party demanded of the Pakistan Peoples Party government in Sindh to address the core issue of a lack of job opportunities for the educated youth in the province. Speaking to The News, the JI spokesperson also demanded of the government to refrain from such measures that would only lead to corruption.
“In our cultural context, a 40- or 45-year-old man usually has a family to feed and he can’t rely upon a starting salary of lower grades,” he said. At a time when the issue of joblessness is haunting a large number of degree-holders in the urban parts of Sindh, the PPP government is following a nefarious agenda of minting money for its leadership, he added.
Such measures would deepen the sense of deprivation among the youth in Karachi and other cities, besides increasing the rate of street crime, the JI spokesperson said, adding that the PPP brains were mistaken if they thought that such types of illogical decisions would slow down the downward spiral that had stalked the PPP’s popularity in rural areas of Sindh.
PTI sees ‘hidden agenda’
’Sindh Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf spokesperson Arsalan Taj, while commenting on the Sindh government’s decision, said that the track record of the PPP showed that it had never taken any decision in public interest, and there might be a hidden agenda behind this.
He said that this year is the year of general elections, and the PPP intends to recruit the maximum number of party workers on jobs to once again “loot the rights of millions of people”.
Taj said: “Our party is analysing the age relaxation decision made by Sindh.” However, he said, Sindh would have a better option if the provincial government could bring the decision to the provincial assembly for a debate.
MQM-P ‘looking into it’
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan spokesperson said that the party believes that the policy of age relaxation has already been implemented by the Sindh government. However, he said, the MQM-P would analyse the decision and issue a statement whether the decision was in the interest of the public or not.