By IANS,
Islamabad : The Pakistan government has decided to reinstate the 7,700 employees who were recruited during the two prime ministerial terms of the slain Benzair Bhutto but were subsequently sacked.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman told reporters Wednesday that the cabinet had approved the step and the decision would now be sent to President Asif Ali Zardari for ratification.
The reinstatement apart, the 7,700 employees, who were removed en masse in 1997, would also receive their arrears of back wages and would be promoted to a higher scale, the minister said.
The arrears would cost the government some Rs.8 billion, Rehman added.
“The Pakistan People’s Party is fulfilling the promises made to the people (in its manifesto for the Feb 2008 general elections),” she said.
The reinstatement move, however, had triggered tensions between the prime minister and the president, with Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani opposing it on the ground it would set a wrong precedent. Those differences have now apparently been ironed out.