There is very strict procedure for recruiting officers in the
federal and provincial bureaucracy; we have exams like CSS at the centre and PMS
at the provincial level. But there is no such system which is in place for
further retention of a person in government service or his posting and transfer.
The law which normally deals with the subject is the Civil servants Act 1973.
Moreover there is no mechanism to check about the actual background activities
of a Civil servant or his family memberscompetitive. Due to the prevalent law
and order situation, many incidents have occurred which have brought a bad name
for our society in general and bureaucracy in particular. One such incident was
that of the terrorist Attack at a Pakistani naval base in Karachi in September
2011. It was a well planned act led by OwaisJakhrani who was sacked from the
Pakistan Navy for radical religious views. He led an audacious mission to take
over a warship and turn its guns on a US naval vessel in the open seas. Although
it was thwarted, but not before Jakhrani, two officers and an unidentified
fourth assailant snuck past a patrol boat in a dinghy and engaged in an intense
firefight on or around the warship, PNS Zulfiqar. Four navy officials were
killed in the attempt to hijack the Zulfiqar, along with Jakhrani and two
accomplices, who were serving sub-lieutenants, according to police reports and
having affiliation with Al-Qaida. Officials are divided about how much support
the young man in his mid-20s had from inside the navy. They also stress that
Jakhrani and his accomplices were near from achieving their aim when they were
killed. According to an initial statement from al Qaeda, the plan was to use the
Zulfiqar to attack a US navy vessel, meaning potential loss of American lives
and a blow to relations between the two nations. A further statement issued by
the group identified the target as USS Supply, a US naval ship used to refuel
warships at sea. The Indian navy was also a target, the statement said. It urged
followers to “make jihad on the seas one of their priorities,” according to the
SITE intelligence group, which monitors extremist communications. Yet the then
Defense Minister Khawaja Asif told parliament the attackers could only have
breached security with inside help. Three serving mid-level lieutenant
commanders from Karachi were also arrested in the western city of Quetta,
allegedly trying to flee to Afghanistan two days after the botched raid,
officials said. Further arrests were made in Karachi, Peshawar, and northwestern
Pakistan, including the father of OwaisJakhrani was detained and was thoroughly
interrogated along with other son. As per phone record, his PSP father was in
constant contact with him while he was having training in Al Qaeda terrorist
training camp based in Afghanistan. Moreover his father himself was well known
among police for his staunch Hanfi anti USA belief. The plot’s mastermind was
sub-lieutenant Jakhrani, either 25 or 26 years old, the son of a senior police
officer in Karachi at that time and now serving in FIA, officials said. “We
found literature and material on his person that no one can be allowed to have.
His colleagues reported his views and he was then closely watched and monitored
and finally dismissed,” one official said. Intelligence officials tipped off the
navy days before the attack that a raid was imminent, according to two
officials. But Jakhrani, who had an insider’s knowledge of the Karachi base, did
not appear to be closely monitored. Imtiaz Gul, head of the Islamabad-based
think tank the Centre for Research and Security Studies, said senior generals
were aware of a long-standing weakness in surveillance of military officials and
their families dismissed for extremism. “They don’t have a tracking system for
officers who are dismissed or asked to leave the service (for radical views),”
said Gul. “That makes it very difficult to track if they have joined extremist
groups.” Chris Rawley, vice president of the Washington DC-based think tank the
Center for International Maritime Security, said the attack never looked likely
to succeed. But underlining one of the United States’ biggest fears, he added:
“The fact that maybe there are some collaborators in the navy is worrying
because maybe there are collaborators among others that have purview over
nuclear weapons.” The most alarming aspect of this discussion is that when his
PSP father and his family are still living in FIA Headquarters Islamabad. In
recent past, his other son tried to get commission in Pakistan Army but was
rejected during medical because of the fact that he has tattoos of religious
slogans on his body. The Government of Pakistan is in constant state of
negligence while it still lacking the will to apprehend extremism and religious
views of senior bureaucrats like the PSP father of OwaisJakhrani as the family
is already well known for its close ties with Al-Qaeda. The political
compromises and nepotism has embedded deep into to bureaucracy and with no time
this PSP father of a terrorist was posted as head of Counter Terrorism Wing in
FIA along with some other key posts where he is having access to all sensitive
information which can be lethal if shared with any terrorist outfits. The
question is whether Government will make laws for checking the actual background
activities of a Civil servant or his family members while in service. There
should be a proper mechanism with strong filters through which all the
bureaucrats must steer through. Even while deciding an officer for an important
slot, clearance must be sought from all intelligence and law enforcement
agencies.