Recruitment in all government departments must be done strictly through the Sindh Public Service Commission (SPSC) strictly on 60:40 rural-urban quota to ensure good governance and transparency, said Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor here Sunday.

In a statement, he warmly welcomed the verdict of Sindh High Court (SHC) bench comprising Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, annulling over 54,000 recruitments in Sindh government departments and ordering the govt to stick to 40:60 urban-rural quota.

Mr Shakoor said that due to violation of rural-urban quota in recruitments, affected people were aggravated and it fanned rural-urban divide which was not in the larger interest of the country. He said in fact the rural-urban quota in Sindh was discriminatory as this quota was not there in all other three provinces. He said that like all other provinces, there should not be any urban-rural quota in Sindh and all recruitments should be done on merit.

He said in the past, thousands of people were recruited in KMC, KWSB, City Wardens, education, health and other departments on political basis during the PPP-MQM coalition government and those illegal recruitments should also be stricken down. He said political appointments always increased rural-urban divide and ethnic tension, which was harmful for the country.

He said the PDP supported merit and rule in all government recruitments as only an able bureaucracy could lead the country to progress and prosperity. He said today PIA and Pakistan Steel Mills were being privatized because the then governments stuffed them with thousands of surplus people recruited on political