Sacked employees of the Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) held a sit-in outside the Radio Pakistan building here on Wednesday. Demonstrations were staged in Multan, Bahawalpur, Quetta, Peshawar, Lahore and other stations. The PBC has terminated the services of 749 contractual employees across the country without giving any notice to them.Similarly daily wagers were removed. The radio station directors, controllers and programme managers have been asked to terminate the services of the employees who had been working on a contract basis for 10 to 20 years.
Around 80 employees working at Quetta and other radio stations in Balochistan have been affected due to the decision of sacking the contract employees.
The sacked employees, carrying placards and banners and chanting slogans against the PBC authorities and the government, marched on Ghalib Road and later gathered outside the Radio Station building where they staged a sit-in.
Speaking on the occasion, Abdul Razzaq Kurd, Abdul Rasool, Mohammad Ali Khosa and other leaders of the Radio Employees Union condemned the authorities for depriving 749 employees of their source of livelihood.
“These low-paid employees were working for the last 20 years on contract basis and now they have been sacked without serving any notice,” Mr Kurd said. He appealed to the chief justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and Balochistan High Court to take notice of this injustice and provide them justice through their reinstatement.
