400 govt depts face possible closure: ‘Don’t look to govt for jobs’

ISLAMABAD: In a departure from the ruling PTI’s election manifesto, Minister for Science & Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday asked the youth not to look for government jobs.

Addressing the second Deans International Conference of Engineering Institutions here, the minister said the government could not provide jobs to the public adding that 400 government departments were going to be disbanded.

Chaudhry further said governments were shrinking in Pakistan or elsewhere in the world. “It is imperative to tell people that the government cannot provide jobs. If we start looking towards the government for jobs, then the framework of our economy will collapse.”

He said it was the mindset of 1970s that governments would provide jobs but now the private sector provides jobs. It is pertinent to mention that the PTI government had promised provision of 10 million jobs to the youth in its election manifesto.

Meanwhile, in a twitter message, Fawad Chaudhry said he was amazed how a headline was made from his statement out of context.

Chaudhry said it was not the government but the private sector that provided jobs adding that the government provided an environment in which new jobs were created. It is not necessary that everyone gets a government job, he added.