Government job is always something very attractive for our
educated youth since long. Every person graduating from a college or university
is desirous 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 while promoting or transferring a public servant. In recent years many
Public servants were found involved in illegal activities such corruption,
corrupt practices, misuse of authority and even terrorism. The main reason being
there is no mechanism to keep a check on their inside and outside office
activities. Although armed forces have a strong system but civilian offices lack
it. There is a complete lack of coordination even among the government offices.
Due to this communication gap, even officer of one department can easily take
undue advantage of its position by deceiving and misleading the officer of other
departments. Taking example of Ministry of interior will show that many
government officials are able to get passport without disclosing their official
position. Many public servants of attached organs of Interior Ministry acquire
long leave in the name of studying inside Pakistan but after availing the same
they immediately go abroad for some business or pleasure trip. Due to this lack
of coordination within different strata of interior ministry , many public
servants are able to acquire dual nationality easily. Similarly inquiries and
investigations are pending against a government officer under this ministry in a
law enforcement agency but his own department remains completely ignorant of it.
Even officers are convicted by courts of law yet they keep enjoying their
official perks and privileges.Such officers get lucrative postings and even get
promotions by evading the due process. The strange phenomenon is that of the
Federal Investigation Agency under Ministry of Interior. Here one FIA circle is
conducting enquiry against its own officer yet the same officer might be heading
another important circle of FIA. The most alarming part is the issue of FIA
promotions. The persons with tainted record are not only considered for
promotion but even assigned lucrative postings as well. Interestingly the policy
makers at the FIA headquarters are so strong that they don't even bother to
inform the ministry of interior regarding the departmental proceedings pending
against some of FIA's notorious officers. The promotion board for inspector to
Assistant Director is going to be held this week in the ministry of interior.
There are some inspectors against whom departmental inquiries 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 more brave after getting promotion. Its 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 hand 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 last couple of years for no good reason. But
here the name of one Assistant Director FIA Mr. ShahidIlyas 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 FIA who remained the first ever
incharge of Pakistan’s foremost cyber crime police station. 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 is
playing an active role in the Joint Investigation Team of famous Mashal Khan
Public Lynching case occurred in 2017 at Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan. I'm
personally witness to his day and night efforts for ensuring justice to that
devastated family of Mashal Khan against all odds. Unfortunately it was some
unscrupulous elements in FIA who played a dirty role by maligning his career
through fabricated and concocted allegations. Mr. ShahidIlyas Khan is not only a
man of action but a man of letter as well. His articles are being published by
renowned national and international newspapers and magazines including famous
websites. But instead of taking advantage of his literary and investigative
skills, this great talent is being pushed into oblivion. There seems dual
standards for different officers within FIA. Luckily both the incumbent Interior
Minister Brigadier (R) Ijaz Shah and Secretary Interior Major (R) Azam Suleiman
are very honest and dedicated persons. It is hoped that they will take notice of
the illegalities going on in FIA. They must devise some scrutiny mechanism at
the ministry level to counter the nepotism and favoritism pursued by FIA while
recommending officers for posting and promotion. Because FIA needs a massive
operation clean up within its ranks. The main slogan of transparency and
corruption free Pakistan seems in doldrums at FIA. The Interior Minister
Brigadier (R) Ijaz Shah should review that how many officers and officials spend
their entire service on one station although the very structure of FIA is
entirely federal. The officers of one province should be posted to other
provinces as well. Moreover a centralized 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 FIA can be purged of any nepotism and
favouritism.
The writer is a senior Journalist He can be reachedat [email protected] Mobile
No, +60109301521