Quota system in Pakistan

The quota system in Pakistan was established to give every region of the country representation in institutions according to their population.[1] The Quota System was first introduced in Pakistan by Liaquat Ali Khan in September 1948.[2][3][4] The Civil Service of Pakistan selects only 7.5% of the applicants by merit, education, qualification and experience. The quota system in Pakistan has many similarities with reservation in India which is its neighbor.[5][6]

Background

1948

After Partition of Subcontinent, Between 1947 and 1958, Some of the most important government posts like the Prime ministership, the ministerial portfolios of Education, information and refugee rehabilitation and various provincial governorship were held by Mohajirs. The first prime minister of Pakistan Liaquat Ali Khan, introduced the Quota system for the civil service in September 1948, in order to increase the number of Bengalis who were underrepresented through numerically a majority.[2][7]

Geographic Areas Percentage of population Share in Quota (Percent)
East Bengal 56.75 42
West Punjab 28 24
Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP, Khairpur 14.05 17
Potential Migrants Unknown 15
Karachi 1.2 2
Total 100 100

1949

Quota for recruitment into the Central Superior Services – 1949.[8]

  East Bengal (40%)
  Punjab and Bahawalpur (23%)
  Merit (20%)
  Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and tribal agencies (15%)
  Karachi (2%)

The quota system was further refined in 1949 when 20 percent of seats were allocated for Central Superior Services (CSS) on merit, but the share of Sindh, Balochistan, NWFP and tribal agencies were further trimmed to 15 percent and The share of East Bengal and West Punjab, including Bahawalpur decreased by 2 and 1 percent respectively. The share of Karachi remains same.[8]

1956

The Constitution of Pakistan of 1956 extended the quota system of 1949 by 15 years.[9]

1970

General Yahya Khan’s martial law government extended the quota system according to which the rural and urban (Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur) population in Sindh was given 60% and 40% representation in services on the recommendations of the then martial law administrator Rukhman Gul of Sindh.[7][9]

University and college admission

There is quota system in Pakistan in admission to universities and colleges where a certain number of places are reserved a priori to applicants who have completed their pre-university studies rural and undeveloped regions of the country. Candidates with low grades (marks or GPA) may qualify for admission to Medical college and Engineering college if they were from rural areas.[10]

University of Karachi is the only public university serving nearly 20 million people in Karachi. According to the University of Karachi “Only a few students from rural Sindh are rejected”.[11] The Government of Sindh has established many universities in smaller towns of Sindh but the standard of education is still not high. The medical college and engineering colleges in Karachi also have quotas that limit the qualified students while admitting the rural students with lower academic achievements.[12]

In 2014, a notification issued by Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) created a storm of controversy among the medical students of Pakistan. According to notification, 2014-15 admissions would be held on quota system rather than open merit i.e. 50% seats in medical colleges of Pakistan were reserved for girls and 50% for boys.[13] But there was silence on the side of University of Health Sciences, Lahore so students could not guess whether quota system would be applied from 2014 or next year.[14] However, few days before the issuance of UHS's first merit list, the notification was challenged in Lahore High Court. On October 29, Lahore High Court took the decision that quota system was illegal, as it would be unfair for girls so 2014-15 admissions would be held on open merit.[15]

Civil Service

The Civil Service of Pakistan selects only 7.5% of the applicants by merit, education, qualification and experience[16] while the 92.5% are selected by using quota system.

  • Merit 7.5%
  • Punjab (Including Federal Area of Islamabad) 50%
  • Sindh 19%
    • The Share of Sindh will be further sub-allocated in the following ratio:
    • Urban Areas of the Sindh 40% of 19% or 7.6%.
    • Rural Areas of the Sindh 60% of 19% or 11.4%.
  • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 11.5
  • Balochistan 6%
  • Federally Administered Tribal Areas 3%
  • Gilgit–Baltistan 1%
  • Azad Kashmir 2%
  • Women Reserved Quota: 10% Women quota will be observed / calculated from the share of each province / region

Reserved political positions

Quotas in Pakistan were introduced in order to give equal opportunity for jobs, representation in assemblies and educational institutions to women, non-Muslims and people from under developed rural areas.

Provincial Assembly General Women Non-Muslim Total
Balochistan 51 11 3 65
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 99 22 3 124
Punjab 297 66 8 371
Sindh 130 29 9 168
Total 577 128 23 728

Armed Forces

The Sind Regiment is an infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army established on 1 July 1980. Prior to this date there had been no regiment in the Pakistan Army specifically intended to recruit primarily from the Sindhi population.[17] After 1989 the proportion of actual Sindhis in the Regiment was increased to over 50%. The Sind Regimental Centre is located in Hyderabad, Sindh, Pakistan. The Infantry Regiments in Pakistan Army are known by the name of the province. We have Punjab Regiment, Baluch Regiment, Frontier Force Regiment and AK Regiment. This is just a symbolic representation. Sindh was the only province without a regiment to its name. Therefore, it may not be correct to say that the sole aim of establishing Sindh Regiment was to recruit sindhi's in the army.

Constitutional rights

The 1973 constitution of Pakistan clearly describes in Chapter I titled, “Fundamental Rights and Principles of Policy”, of Article 27 Clause I about safeguarding the fundamental rights of the citizens of Pakistan against the discrimination in the federal and provincial government services in these words:

The constitution gives equal rights:

  • “No citizen otherwise qualified for appointment in the service of Pakistan shall be discriminated against in respect of any such appointment on the ground only of race, religion, caste, sex, residence or place of birth.”

The quota system limits the constitutional rights:

  • “Provided that, for a period not exceeding twenty years from the commencing day, posts may be reserved for persons belonging to any class or area to secure their adequate representation in the service of Pakistan.”

Criticism

The quota system has also been a Human Rights issue where a person with a regional, linguistic and rural/urban background is discriminated through quota system and denied public employment admission to colleges and universities.

Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry, son of former Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, in spite of receiving a C grade (third division) in High School (Intermediate) was admitted to Bolan Medical College on the quota reserved for the Chief Minister of Balochistan. In Pakistan, medical college degree is awarded after five years but it took 7 years for Arsalan to graduate from medical college.[18] Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry was a medical officer and within a month of graduation and then he was promoted as a section officer in the Department of Health of Government of Balochistan.[19] Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry has never practiced medicine.

In 1973, the Government of Sindh imposed quota system in Sindh where the employment and admissions to the elite colleges and universities was not based on merit but on the ethnic origin and the place of residency.[20] The quota system in the province of Sindh was imposed in 1973 for 40 years but in 2013 it was extended for another 20 years.[21] In 2033, it mark be 60 years of quota system in Sindh and according to some it will be extended for another 20 years. The Government of Sindh even after making huge investment in rural areas for the last 40 years failed to raise the educational standards in the rural areas.[22] In 2013 Sindh budget, over Rs 675 billion are spent on rural area development and Rs 30 billion in Karachi.[23] The huge investments in rural Sindh infrastructure and educational institutions in last 40 years has been mostly wasted due to the poor planning, political corruption, feudalism and apathy of the rural population. The quota system hit the Muhajir community. The nationalization of Pakistan's educational institutions, financial institutions and industry in 1972 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan Peoples Party impacted the Muhajirs hardest as their educational institutions, commerce and industries were nationalized without any compensation.[24] Then the quota system was introduced that limited their access to the education and the public service employment. Karachi is the largest commercial city of Pakistan and the Muhajirs are the main stakeholder in this city. This city generates about 70% of Pakistan's revenue but this city is not governed by its local representatives as the elections of the local government was replaced by a commissioner.[25]

See also

References
  1. Quota System in Pakistan
  2. Adeel Khan (6 January 2005). Politics of Identity: Ethnic Nationalism and the State in Pakistan (First ed.). SAGE Publications. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-7619-3304-5. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  3. Farhan Hanif Siddiqi (4 May 2012). The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements (First ed.). Routledge. p. 98. ISBN 978-1-136-33697-3. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  4. Christophe Jaffrelot (15 August 2015). "4". The Pakistan Paradox: Instability and Resilience (First ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-061330-3. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  5. http://www.idea.int/publications/wip2/upload/South_Asia.pdf
  6. Maheshwari, Shriram (1992). Problems and Issues in Administrative Federalism. ISBN 9788170233428.
  7. Naseer, Memon. "The quota controversy". The News. The News On Sunday. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  8. John Coakley (2 August 2004). "7 - Pakistan". The Territorial Management of Ethnic Conflict (Second Revised and Expanded ed.). Routledge. pp. 153–154. ISBN 978-1-135-76442-5. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  9. Abdul Wajid, Rana (November 9, 2017). "Quota system in Pakistan". Tribune.com. The Express Tribune. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  11. KU claims it gives preference to students from rural Sindh
  12. Quota system in Medical College Reinstated in Sindh
  13. New admissions policy: 50:50 ratio for men and women in medical colleges, says PMDC
  14. Equal number of seats for boys and girls in medical colleges
  15. PMDC tilts gender equality balance in boys’ favour
  16. CSS Recruitment Policy
  17. The Sind Regiment Pakistan
  18. Report exposing ex-CJP Iftikhar Chaudhry and his son Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry
  19. Arsalan Iftikhar Chaudhry
  20. Divide and Malign Sind: Controversial Quota System
  21. Provincial quota in jobs to remain intact for 20 more years
  22. No escape: Quota system extended
  23. What Quota System gave us in last 40 years?
  24. Riazuddin, Riaz. "Pakistan: Financial Sector Assessment (1990-2000)". Economic Research Department of State Bank of Pakistan. State Bank of Pakistan. Retrieved 2 June 2012.
  25. Old commissioner, police system restored in Sindh Karachi city govt, its 18 towns become ‘dead’; district status of Hyderabad revived;
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