Minorities’ Quota Remains Unfilled: Discrimination or Inefficiency?

Asma Ghani

Islamabad: Whereas the 18^th Constitutional Amendment was termed a milestone achieved by the provinces after decades of struggle, some of the camp offices of Federal Departments functioning at Provincial Headquarters had to close down. Mukesh Kumar* was one such employee who had to shift to the Federal Capital as part of this process in an entirely new social setting and environment.

The agony of leaving everything behind, including family and children, aside, Kumar had to confront an entirely new situation at the new office—housed in a rented building with limited rooms for the entire staff. He found that the majority of the staff was treating him like a pariah to the extent that even use of common glass and washroom was a matter of discriminatory gossips under the lips, not by all, but by many ultra-religious men at his new office and this, unfortunately, included his immediate boss.

Unlike Karachi, Kumar recalls, where he had never faced such an issue, Islamabad was not a welcoming place for him as even on his occasional visits to market or hospitals, adding as soon as anyone, by chance, came to know about his religious background, they would treat him discriminatingly.

He said that since he had no official accommodation, he had to live in a rented hostel nearby, adding he also faced pressure from a certain group in Islamabad to convert to Islam which added to his mental agony.

He was of the view that perhaps it was only the Hindu community that faced discrimination of such a high magnitude in Islamabad, attributing it to a cultural difference and language. He also assumes that he was suspected of links with India.

Kumar worried for his family back in Karachi who he could not shift to Islamabad, was further frustrated when he found that his promotion to the next grade was also hampered by the high-ups by delaying the Departmental Promotion Committee (DPC) for one reason or the other infinitely, adding his promotion was delayed for three long years. He also attaches this to what he calls the innate discriminatory behavior of the high-ups on religious grounds.

Eventually, the bureaucratic hurdles, financial constraints to shift his family, and above all the constant discriminatory behavior on religious grounds and unwelcoming social environment of Islamabad forced Kumar to quit his job for good and go back to Karachi to seek employment at some private organization. Hence, he resigned and left everything behind: his service as an officer, his promotion prospects to reach the top level of the hierarchy, and the job security which never exists in the private sector.

It is pertinent to mention here that Kumar was one of the few people from minorities who managed to qualify for a higher grade post at a federal department. Only, 1.8 percent of non-Muslim employees work in grades 17 to 20 at different Federal Government Departments while the majority 80.3 percent work in lower grades from BPS-1-4, according to a report bythe National Commission for Human Rights published in May 2022, titled ‘Unequal Citizens: Fact Finding Report’.

Federal Government non-Muslim employees

Huge Backlog

Currently, about 28163 employees from religious minorities have been working in different Federal Government Organizations across the country and of them, only 225 officers are working against BS-17 to 21, according to One-Man Commission. The One-Man Commission formed under the leadership of Dr. Shoaib Suddlewas constituted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2019 to implement Justice Jillani judgment that required the government to take various initiatives to ensure minority rights, including implementation on a 5 percent quota for minorities in the federal and provincial services.

The data further reveals that only 569 employees are employed against BS-16. The officials of One-Man Commission informed that about 1000 positions of higher grades have been lying vacant because candidates from minorities couldn’t qualify for them. On the other hand, they maintainthatministries do not have the capacity to conduct the screening tests of a large number of applications for lower-grade jobs.

In 2009, Pakistan reserved a 5 percent quota for minorities in all government sector jobs from BPS-01 to BPS-22 to ensure their participation at every level of the hierarchy. But more than half of the positions, reserved for minorities, especially of higher grades lie vacant, and merely low-paid positions are advertised and filled.

Source: One-Man Commission Report

According to the above-mentioned NCHR report, out of the total federal government employees, only 2.8 percent are non-Muslims. They are over-represented in the low-pay categories, especially in sanitary work wherein they are engaged in dirty, dangerous, and demanding jobs and are at greater risk of occupational injuries, and deaths. Discriminatory advertisements are published in major newspapers indicating that only non-Muslims were ‘eligible’ for sanitary work. The NCHR documented more than 300 such discriminatory advertisements within the course of a few days that highlight the inherent bias and discrimination against minorities in government departments. But to fill the vacant positions of higher grades, hardly any such discriminatory advertisements appeared.

So far, the Federal and respective Provincial Governments have filled 1,218 posts against the total number of 30,519 identified vacant posts, which constitute only 4 percent of the total number of vacancies, according to One-Man Commission.

In its response, the Commission said that the respective governments are repeatedly being nudged to fill the available vacancies at the earliest through launching a special recruitment campaign by preparing a roadmap and guidelines provided by the Commission.

But ministries and departments were unable to intimate a clear timeframe towards filling the vacant posts against the 5 percent minority quota, it said, due to frequent lockdowns imposed during Covid-19. “Though the provincial governments have been slow, the process of recruitment has taken off,” it added.

Stumbling Blocks

“Article 36 and 37 of the constitution ask to ensure the presence of minorities in the federal and provincial services and mainstream them in education and economic fields but they lag far behind in every field. The similar reasons which are hindering the participation of minorities in the national mainstream, proving to be a stumbling block in the way of implementation of job quota as well,” said Peter Jacob, Executive Director of Centre for Social Justice.

He cites corruption, nepotism, job cartels, underdevelopment of minorities, and discrimination by a section of bureaucracy towards minorities who don’t want them to climb up the ladder of upward social mobility saying: “The main underlying causes why we don’t see minority representation in high-grade positions.”

“Accommodating near and dear ones and then job cartels which operate in a manner that they use corruption and nepotism to make money out of it,” he explains, adding, “That’s why only a few were able to reach the superior services.”

“The process of implementation on the rights of minorities started yielding results after the constitution of One-Man Commission,” Jacob said,“ yet the overall ownership seems to be missing”.

Possible Solutions

As a way forward, he opines, that educational quota for minorities and focused investment on the education of marginalized minority groups can prepare them to take on responsibilities at a higher level.

Such a policy has already been introduced in Punjab where a two percent admission quota at the higher education level is allocated for minorities. However, this will not work, believes Asif Aqeel, who is a researcher and academic, adding that until the academic environment is made inclusive at the lower secondary level, things will not change.

Unless this unconscious bias that scheduled caste groups and Christians are ‘eligible’ only for sanitary work persists, he said, “qualified people will continue to be frustrated like Kumar and the rest will be forced to be employed as sanitary workers.”

*Name has been changed to protect the identity of interviewee on personal request.