PPP stresses electoral reforms before polls

ISLAMABAD: PPP Sindh ministers have said the PPP until the present day has been ready for the general elections, but its stance is very clear that electoral reforms should be done before the polls. “Only electoral reforms can ensure that the next general polls are held in a transparent manner,” said Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, Labour and Human Resources Minister Saeed Ghani and Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah at a joint press conference here on Wednesday. They said the coalition government might have to take certain unpopular decisions in view of the alarmingly weakened state of the national economy due to certain terms the previous government signed with the IMF.

Saeed Ghani said the Sindh government was launching the Benazir Mazdoor Cards to help the working class. He said he had come to Islamabad for signing an agreement between the Sindh Employees Social Security Institution (SESSI) and the National Database and Registration Authority. He said the accord had been signed for hiring data entry operators to speed up work for the issuance of the Benazir Mazdoor Cards (BMCs) in Sindh. He informed the media that Sindh had become the first province to start issuing smart cards in the form of BMCs for extending due privileges to registered industrial workers in the province. Sindh had so far issued 37,000 smart cards and there had been delays in the issuance of the BMCs due to a shortage of data entry operators. He said the fresh accord signed with the NDDRA stood for hiring the services of 162 more data entry operators.

The Sindh Labour minister said that in the first phase of the project, the BMCs would be issued to some 625,000 industrial workers registered with the SESSI. He said the SESSI had been running a network of five hospitals and 42 dispensaries for the provision of necessary healthcare facilities to registered workers and their family members in Sindh. The basic aim behind the issuance of the BMCs was bringing transparency and accountability in the process of providing due benefits to the bona fide labourers so that pilferages in the system should end.

He said that in the second phase, the BMCs would be issued to labourers belonging to the informal sector, who were mostly self-employed like pushcart vendors, taxi and rickshaw drivers. He reiterated the demand of the Sindh government that affairs related to the Workers Welfare Fund and the Employees Old-Age Benefits Institution be devolved to provinces in line with the 18th Amendment as the labour had become a fully-devolved subject. Ghani said the same demand had been made when he held a meeting with the federal minister for Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resources.

Answering a question, the Sindh Information minister said only electoral reforms could ensure that the next general polls were held in a transparent manner. Responding to another query, he said all political parties should join hands to take steps to improve the economy.

In reply to a question regarding the Supreme Court verdict on the presidential reference, Ghani said the court should look into its decision as two judges gave different opinions. Memon said they respected the SC decision, but assembly members should have the right to vote. “This decision is in conflict with the Constitution and the federation should immediately review it,” he said.