By Iqbal Khwaja
THATTA:A young woman was deprived of a huge amount in the name of providing a lucrative job by a close relative of a provincial minister.
According to documents collected by Dawn, a young jobless lady Asiya Naz d/o Mohammed Athar, a resident of Karachi, met the minister in his office with a request for a job.
The minister directed the applicant and her mother to be in touch with his first cousin who reportedly demanded Rs500,000 for getting her a job. The lower middle class family of Asiya arranged the required amount by selling her ornaments and gave it to the man. She kept on pursuing him in search of job.
After some time, the minister’s cousin delivered an appointment letter allegedly issued out of (President House quota) in which there were five other names as well, and on number five, was the name of Ms Asiya Naz.
The letter bearing No. f-admin91/08 dated 26/09/2008, and signed by one Dilawar Shah, Deputy Chief Admin Officer, (Finance and Accounts).
This letter was followed by an offer letter as a management trainee issued by Oil and Gas Development Corporation’s Personnel Department (recruitment section) Masood Mansion Markaz Islamabad, signed by one Aijaz Mohammed Khan Chief Personal Officer, OGDC, Islamabad.
She was directed to appear for joining and also for medical examination by the Chief Medical Officer at OGDC Medical Centre located at 3-D, F-8 Markaz Islamabad in February 2009. The girl reached the above address and delivered the letter to the officer.
However, it proved shocking to her when all the letters were declared fraudulent, false and fictitious. She was told that there was no ‘Presidential Quota’ and these letters were fictitious.
The dejected, depressed and deprived young lady returned to Karachi, and with her mother went to the office of the minister and narrated the entire ordeal to him.
He told her that if the man had given a fraudulent offer letter, he would ask him to return the money.
After this admission by the minister, Asiya and her mother continued to meet the minister’s cousin to return her money.
The matter kept on lingering and the woman threatened to commit self-immolation in front of the residence of the minister and his cousin at their locality situated in Memon Moahalla, Thatta.
Later, the man returned Rs2,00,000 cash to the woman. Afterwards, Aziz gave a cheque (No. 679387) of Account Number 2760-9 of MCB Thatta branch and promised the remaining payment later on. It was another shock for the family when the cheque bounced and could not be cashed.
On insistence of repayment of her remaining amount of Rs300,000, the family was being threatened of dire consequences.
The family of Ms Asiya has demanded intervention of President Asif Ali Zardari, prime minister, Sindh chief minister, IG Police Sindh and also sought protection of the family which was being threatened by the minister and his cousin.
When approached for comments, the minister said that “I am not aware of anything about the subject” and added that “please provide documentary evidence, if any, so as to ascertain the facts on my part”.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/21/2009
