Senators slam decision to sack 20,000 employees

ISLAMABAD: Rare unanimity was witnessed in the Senate Monday for the reinstatement of around 20,000 sacked employees, as the opposition warned against targeting institutions after the judiciary came under criticism for ‘validating four martial laws in the country and its failure to act against violators of the Constitution’.

The government decried what it called the bashing of the judiciary under the guise of sacked employees issue by some opposition senators. PPP Senator Taj Haider on the private members day called for constitution of a larger bench for the review and cautioned that if employment opportunities were not created, more people would leave the country for livelihood, even risking their lives, as already over 10 million had left the country.

The criticism against the judiciary came during discussion on a motion on the fate of thousands of employees made redundant through the Supreme Court judgment, declaring the Sacked Employees (Reinstatement) Act, 2010 ultra-vires of the Constitution last month.

The opposition members strongly urged the apex court to review its judgment from a humanitarian angle, Islamic and economic point of view. Leader of the House in the Senate Dr Shahzad Wasim said that the government would file a petition, seeking review of the apex court’s decision. Referring to the remarks made by some opposition senators, Senator Wasim contended that one could give his opinion about verdicts of the judiciary, insisting it would be inappropriate to target the judiciary. Then he, without naming former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, said the relief of allowing a ‘certified criminal’ to fly out of the country to get medicine had also been given by the courts.

He also recalled that it was the PML-N which had sacked these employees in 1997-98, but today it was showing sympathy for them. He came hard on the PML-N for showering praises on the PPP and predicted that it would not return the opposition parties’ conglomeration PDM, which he charged was nothing more than a dummy.

PMLN Senator Irfan Siddiqui termed the apex court judgment declaring the act of the parliament ultra vires of the Constitution as contempt of the parliament and then went on to say that ‘the nation has to hang its head in shame and while taking a look at the role played by the judiciary since the establishment of Pakistan’. He alleged that the judiciary neither stood by the law nor the Constitution, nor by justice, people and the parliament when four military rulers had imposed martial laws in the murky national political history. He then remarked, “All know with whom they stood by”.

Senator Siddiqui maintained that the judiciary never held accountable the military rulers and influential law-breakers and charged, “the judiciary can’t see bigger crimes; those who abrogate Constitution and the dictators”. He said many people were languishing in jails awaiting justice and many a time it takes years for them to decide a case. He asked as to why the parliament was so weak that a law made by it was thrown out by a judge on the last working day before retirement.

Former chairman Senate Mian Raza Rabbani asked the government to go for legislation to reinstate the employees who lost jobs through a judgment by an outgoing judge. He wondered how people could be rendered jobless.

Referring to reports of the government’s agreement with IMF, Rabbani called upon the government to disclose details of the agreement with the IMF and wondered if downsizing and retrenchments were part of the agreement. He regretted that none could even raise a finger when jobs worth Rs2 million or more were given. He added the poor in a state either look towards the parliament or judiciary but here under the Doctrine of Necessity, even dictatorships were validated but then it was said that a very few did so but our judicial system would protect our rights.

However, he said that the court decision had disappointed the people and it was not the trial of those who are paid salaries in lakhs (though there may be one or two taking that much salary) but of 20,000 plus workers. He pointed out that today, over 10 million Pakistanis were forced to leave the country as the country could not provide them livelihood. He called this trend a humanitarian tragedy.

Senator Haider made an appeal to the honourable judiciary to form a larger bench and review the matter from the humanitarian point of view, Islamic and economic point of view and find a solution to the issue of livelihood of over 20,000 people.

Winding up the discussion, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan regretted the kind of words used by PML-N Senator Afnan Ullah and said such words were not uttered even by the PML-N leadership while sitting prime minister was targeted this way. He then said that the employees should just forget who had given them jobs and remarked, “they are Pakistanis. And we all on both sides of the aisle want a solution to this matter. The way Mian Raza Rabbani and other senators expressed their concerns shows that we all feel for them. And we will try to get them reinstated.”

The minister, however, responding to the criticism by some opposition senators, recalled that they were first fired in 1997, when the PML-N was in power and it had sent them home. He asked was not it a fact that on the order of a prime minister, the apex court was ransacked, as mentioned in the book by ex-speaker NA Gohar Ayub and then it was asked could the chief justice of SC be kept in confinement for one or two nights. He continued the onslaught and referred to how justice Qayyum was directed for favours. He then made mention of a sacked PM’s case and how a sitting PM was fired and then reinstated in 1993 by the Supreme Court, which rose against a dictator’s decision.

Ali Muhammad asked if strengthening of the judiciary had been among our priorities, rather an independent judiciary did not suit us. However, he said the judiciary was independent today and credited the lawyers, the main three political parties and small parties.

The minister regretted how some senators on the basis of these employees, resorted to judiciary’s bashing. “Had not we provided our shoulders and knocked at the doors of establishment? Had all this happened without the support of politicians?”

He said that they would take the matter of employees forward, keeping in view the respect of the courts. He added it was unprecedented how the federal government took notice of it and prime minister contacted him and then a committee, headed by Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak, was formed and it noted that filing a review was a legal option. He also pointed out that it was a rare development, as the Federation hardly opted for a review in the past. “We are hopeful that a good judgment would be delivered by the apex court and the employees reinstated with all their perks and privileges, and salaries,” he said.

Earlier, PML-N’s Saadia Abbasi said that people are not made to lose their jobs through judicial orders and she wanted to know to which article of the Constitution the reinstatement act was in conflict with. She called for its review. In his hard-hitting observations, Senator Afnan Ullah grilled the prime minister for getting his Bani Gala palace regularized while the houses of poor were demolished. He claimed three million people had been rendered jobless. He urged the chief election commissioner to decide the foreign funding case, so that people could know how foreign funding was made to PTI to install Imran Khan.