One of the key issues that is increasing the sense of deprivation among the people of Balochistan is hiring of people from other provinces on the 6% seats allocated to the province in the federal ministries and departments.
These people, who are originally residents of other provinces and federating units, get appointed to the federal departments on the basis of forged local certificates and domiciles.
A “local certificate” is a document issued by a district authority to certify that the holder is an indigenous resident of the district while a “domicile” shows that the holder treats that district as his permanent home. Around 20,000 people are working on various federal institutions on Balochistan’s quota.
These institutions include federal ministries – of defense, interior, finance, health, science and communication etc – as well as organizations like the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda), the Pakistan Railways, the National Bank and the Motorway Police etc.
This illegal hiring has been on the agenda of nationalist parties for years and lawmakers of the National Party (NP), the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP) and the Balochistan National Party (BNP-M) have been raising this issue in the Balochistan Assembly, the National Assembly and the Senate.
However, religious as well as mainstream political parties have remained unconcerned with this injustice done to the people of Balochistan. Interestingly, family members and friends of a number of leaders of these parties are employed in the federal departments.
Apparently, the issuance of fake domicile is linked to the civil servants – commissioners, deputy commissioners and executive officers – who are transferred to Balochistan from other provinces.
A number of such officers enable their kin and cronies to get these fake domiciles using their power and influence. The people who have these fake certificates also enjoy the opportunity to get admission in higher education institutions on the basis of Balochistan quota while also getting foreign scholarships.
The NP raised the issue in the Senate in 2017 which also passed a resolution calling for scrutiny of all the domicile and local certificates submitted by employees hired in the federal departments on Balochistan’s quota.
The NP and a number of other petitioners later also moved the Balochistan High Court (BHC) against issuance of forged domiciles and local certificates by filing constitutional petitions.
Later, the cabinet division asked the Balochistan government to get the documents of all the federal government employees from Balochistan verified. However, the authorities failed to implement both the resolution of the Senate as well as the BHC order.
In March 2019, the Balochistan Governor Secretariat and later the Home Ministry sent lists of all the 20,000 people – employed in the federal departments on Balochistan’s quota – to commissioner of divisions and deputy commissioners of districts for verification of their domiciles and local certificates.
After the scrutiny process that lasted for two years, the commissioners of four out of seven divisions of Balochistan – Nasirabad, Sibbi, Kalat and Rakhshan – submitted their reports in the BHC.
According to the reports, the deputy commissioners of the 20 districts – that make up the four divisions – scrutinized the domiciles and local certificates of 5,534 federal government employees from Balochistan. However, they could not verify the documents of almost half – 2,745 – of the people.
Documents of some of the employees were sent back to the local administration in view of creation of new districts and new demarcations. These 2,745 people did not appear before relevant committees.
According to available documents, 533 domiciles and local certificates from the Sibbi division were found to be forged. Four hundred and fifty two (452) domiciles and local certificates from Naseerabad; 340 from Jaffarabad; 325 from Kachhi; 294 from Kalat; 173 from Khuzdar; 142 from Mastung and 99 domiciles and local certificates from Ziarat were found to be forged.
NP leader Sajid Tareen, who was among the petitioners who moved the BHC against fake domiciles and local certificates, said many commissioners and deputy commissioners are reluctant to submit their report in the court.
Last year, a BHC bench comprising former chief justice Jamal Mandokhail and Justice Abdul Hameed Baloch ordered the home ministry to submit a report.
Earlier, on July 23, 2020, another division bench comprising Justice Mandokhail and Justice Nazir Ahmad Langove had directed authorities to conduct a transparent inquiry into the matter. It had also directed the provincial government to legislate in order to stop issuance of such forged documents.
According to some analysts, all the leading parties of Balochistan need to make a committee to pursue this very crucial matter in courts.
There is a need to hold the officials accountable who issued these forged certificates. The people who got government jobs or scholarships through forged domicile and local certificates should also be taken to task for depriving the people of the province their rights, they said.
