Unpaid for five months, driver working for GB Information Dept attempts suicide

GILGIT: Sharif Ullah, a driver working for Shams Mir, Gilgit-Baltistan’s Adviser for Information, has reportedly attempted suicide after not receiving his salary for five months.

According to details, Sharif Ullah, a resident of Gahkuch, was working for the Minister of Information, Shams Mir, but he has not been paid for six months.

On October 16, a group of 24 contract and contingent (paid) employees of the ministry had sent a written appeal to Shams Mir and the Information Department, apprising them of their difficulties due to non-payment of salaries for five months.

Despite of the appeal, and threat of protest, the ministry did not pay them salaries, increasing their financial difficulties.

One of the employees, Sharif Ullah, couldn’t take the burden of the financial difficulties, and reportedly tried to hang himself inside his house.

Sharif’s wife, after seeing him hanging to the roof, cut the Duptta (headscarf/chaddar) used for hanging. She untangled her husband and saved his life.

Sharif is currently under treatment at a hospital, recovering from neck injury and trauma.

While the ministers, advisers and other officials enjoy luxuries, using several vehicles for personal, official and family use, the drivers and other low-pay-scale staff often are at the receiving end, hardly making ends meet.

Especially miserable are the contract and contingent (paid) or unpaid staff, who continue working at the mercy of the higher officials, often under the fear of losing the meager income, or the opportunity of a permanent job in the future.