Daily Times

A government job is something that always attracts our educated youth. Every person graduating from a college or university desires of getting a government job; preferably in a lucrative department. There are many filters while recruiting a person to any public office but unfortunately, after induction of a person in government employment, there is no system to promote or transfer a public servant.

In recent years, many public servants were found involved in illegal activities like corruption, misuse of authority and even terrorism. The main reason being no mechanism to keep a check on them, both inside and outside the office.

Although armed forces have a strong system, civilian offices lack it. There is a complete lack of coordination even among the government offices. Due to this communication gap, officers of one department can easily take undue advantage of their position by deceiving and misleading the officers of other departments. Taking the example of the Ministry of Interior, which will show that many government officials can get passports without disclosing their official positions.

Many public servants of attached organs of Interior Ministry acquire long leave in the name of studying inside Pakistan but then are seen immediately going abroad for business or pleasure trips.

Due to this lack of coordination within different strata of the interior ministry, many public servants can easily acquire dual nationalities. Similarly, enquiries and investigations might be pending against a government officer under this ministry in a law enforcement agency, but his department would remain completely ignorant.

Even officers convicted by courts of law keep enjoying their official perks and privileges.

Such officers get lucrative postings and even promotions by evading the due process. The strange phenomenon is that of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) under the Ministry of Interior. Here, one FIA circle is conducting an enquiry against its own officer yet the same officer might be heading another important circle of the FIA.

The most alarming issue is that of FIA promotions. The persons with a tainted record are not only considered for promotions but even assigned lucrative postings as well. Interestingly, the policymakers at the FIA headquarters are so strong they don’t even bother to inform the Ministry of Interior regarding the departmental proceedings pending against some of the FIA’s notorious officers.

The promotion board for an Inspector to Assistant Director is going to be held this week in the Ministry of Interior. There are some inspectors against whom departmental enquiries are pending at the orders and instructions of courts and even Senate’s Standing Committee on Interior. But some FIA high-ups are so bold that they have deliberately concealed this fact from the promotion board.

One can imagine that such corrupt officers will become braver after getting the promotion. It is an established government policy to suspend an officer under enquiry so that he cannot misuse his official position to influence the ongoing proceedings. On one hand, such corrupt officers are being facilitated while on the other, some FIA officers are being grilled simply for not obeying the illegal commands of their high-ups.

Prominent officers like Bilal Aslam, Rizwan Aslam, Afzal Niazi, Mian Sabir and many others have been sidelined for the last couple of years for no good reason. But here, the name of one Assistant Director (FIA), Mr Shahid Ilyas Khan, is worthy to mention, who is not only a well-educated and competent person but also an honest and upright officer. He is a shining star of the FIA who has served as the first-ever in-charge of Pakistan’s foremost cyber crime police station.

Due to the lack of coordination within different strata of the interior ministry, many public servants can easily acquire dual nationalities

The gentleman has many achievements to his credit such as arresting the notorious human trafficker, Moula Bakhsh Irani, who was involved in sending thousands of illegal immigrants through Pak-Iran border. But in my opinion, his biggest achievement so far has been playing an active role in the Joint Investigation Team of famous Mashal Khan Public Lynching case, which occurred in 2017 at Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan. I have personally witnessed his day and night efforts for ensuring justice to the devastated family of Mashal Khan against all odds.

Unfortunately, it was some unscrupulous elements in FIA, which played a dirty role by maligning his career through fabricated and concocted allegations. Mr Khan is not only a man of action but a man of the letter as well. His articles are being published by renowned national and international newspapers, magazines and famous websites.

But instead of taking advantage of his literary and investigative skills, this great talent is being pushed into oblivion. There seem to be dual standards for different officers within the FIA. Luckily, both the incumbent Interior Minister, Brigadier (R) Ijaz Shah are very honest and dedicated.

It is expected that they will take notice of the illegalities going on in the FIA. They must devise some scrutiny mechanism at the ministry level to counter the nepotism and favouritism pursued by the FIA while recommending officers for posting and promotion. Because the FIA needs a massive clean up within its ranks.

The main slogan of transparency and corruption-free Pakistan seems to be in the doldrums at the FIA. The Interior Minister should, thus, review how many officers and officials spend their entire service at one station although the very structure of FIA is federal. Therefore, officers of one province should be posted to other provinces as well.

Moreover, a centralised database should be maintained at the ministry level to check the track record of posting, transfer and promotion of all FIA officers. Only this way, the FIA can be purged of all practices of nepotism and favouritism.

The writer is a senior journalist