The Utility Stores Corporation of Pakistan has dismissed more than 3,500 contract employees.
According to Secretary General All Pakistan Workers Alliance Utility Stores Arif Shah, letters have been sent to regional managers in this regard. Regional managers have the authority to dismiss employees from grades one to thirteen.
After this decision, contract employees have also called for a protest at the Scheme Mor, Lahore. The Utility Stores Union says that it is illegal to dismiss contract employees despite the Supreme Court’s injunction. They will also file a contempt of court writ in this regard on Monday.
Meanwhile, Nawab Shah Niaz Hussain Brohi, the regional manager of Utility Stores, adopted a highly unusual form of protest. Brohi wrote a letter to Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) supremo Maulana Fazlur Rehman, urging him to intervene.
In the letter, Brohi argued that the institution, founded by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, was originally established to serve the poor. He claimed that the recent attempts to close down the utility stores were part of a larger conspiracy orchestrated by a powerful sugar mafia. Brohi had appealed to Maulana Fazlur Rehman for help in protecting the institution.
