Cost of principles
MUHAMMAD Rizwan, a medical doctor, Kamran Mumtaz, an engineer, and Rizwan Qadeer, a captain in the army, all left their respective careers to join Pakistan’s civil services and become part of the state machinery. They joined the 37th Common Training Programme at the Civil Services Academy with the aim of becoming agents of change by upholding merit and discouraging political interference. In her inaugural address, then DG CTP Arifa Saboohi said, “Try to be a man of value rather than a man of success.” It seems these three were paying attention. Here are their stories.
Dr Rizwan, now serving as senior superintendent police, Shikarpur, on the one hand receives a letter of appreciation from his commanding officer for outstanding work and, on the other, is lambasted in a press conference by the provincial information minister Saeed Ghani as a “third-class, third-rate man”.
His crime? Pointing out alleged links between drug dealers, the politician and his family. The minister is well within his rights to defend himself against such grievous allegations, but a senior politician like Mr Ghani should do it in a court of law or at a proper forum. I wonder how a sitting minister is not governed by any code of conduct and can hold as many pressers as he wants to threaten a senior police officer.
That officers of repute are so vulnerable is a failure of the system.
It takes a brave man to be upright. These are the kinds of people we want in our civil service; people who do not fear the mafia. Unfortunately, the fear is that, sooner or later, the mafia will win — like it did in the case of another officer from the same batch, retired Capt Rizwan Qadeer.
Inducted from the army into the Pakistan Administrative Service, Qadeer was until recently serving as additional deputy commissioner revenue in Gujjar Khan, and has now been made officer on special duty. He was caught in a tug of war between politicians from the ruling party over some land dispute.
Qadeer was given the task to investigate and prepare a report based on revenue records. It was alleged that the documents showing the relative of one Shehzad Akbar — a political bigwig these days — as owner of the land in question were manipulated and the transfer of land was forged. The report was also endorsed by the deputy commissioner. Instead of being applauded for the work done by both officers, they were reprimanded and transferred at a lightning pace.
The commissioner revenue maintains that the transfers of both officers is a routine matter and has not been done under any political pressure. But can this be a routine matter? Such a transfer is in direct violation of the Supreme Court verdict in the Anita Turab case, in which it is clearly stated that civil servants should not be transferred before the completion of tenure without any recordable reason.
That officers of impeccable repute are so vulnerable is a failure of the system. If a report by a couple of officers is not respected by their own department, how can we expect the writ of the government to be established? Civil servants can find themselves in all kinds of trouble if they happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time — as happened in the case of another officer of the same batch, Kamran Mumtaz.
Kamran Mumtaz, a brilliant officer of the Police Service of Pakistan, was attending a professional course in Australia when he received a notice from NAB, which was investigating embezzlement of police department funds while he was district police officer Gujrat. Though he had been posted as DPO Gujrat for only a short tenure — and there were also five other officers under investigation — he still rushed back when he could have easily delayed his return until the completion of his scholarship studies. He refused to apply for bail, stating in his customary style that, “When I have not done anything wrong why would I be arrested?”
But he was wrong. Mumtaz was arrested and has been in jail for over a year now; no headway has been made in the investigation so far, and the snail-paced judicial system will ensure that he becomes a psychological patient before he is given a clean chit. Sadly, it would not help anyway, because the damage is already done.
They say if something happens once it is by chance, if it happens again it can be a coincidence, but if it happens thrice then it is the norm. I just hope that this norm of belittling courage, mocking meritocracy and undermining honesty will end. Their story reminds me of an Urdu verse by Gulzar:
Bohat chhale hain uske pairon mein / Kambakht asoolon pe chala hoga (His feet are full of blisters / The cursed must have stood for principles).
The writer is a former civil servant.
Twitter: @SyedSaadat52
Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2020