Jobless employees

Employees of National Aliens Registration Authority (Nara), a federal government department established in 2002 with a mandate to register all illegal immigrants residing in Pakistan and to run the department, were recruited following the defined government procedures. In 2015, Nara was merged with Nadra which was not ready to count the services of Nara employees who had already served in the organisation for years and recruited them at entry level posts.

A majority of Nara employees opted to go in the surplus pool, but the authorities concerned were also not ready to count them as civil servants and did not send them in the surplus pool. Nara employees have been deprived of their salaries for many months now and are finding it difficult to arrange for bread and butter to feed their families. The employees have finally approached the high court. While it is good that the employees have reached out to the court, it would have been better had the Nadra authorities listen to the woes of former Nara employees and took effective action to alleviate their suffering.

Faisal Ansar

Karachi