KARACHI: What do you do when you learn that a prestigious national award has been conferred upon your boss? People might respond in very different ways. Some would consider it sufficient to greet the boss next time they run into him. Those given to flattery might avail of this opportunity to gain some brownie points and beeline in front of the boss’s office to pay an obsequious homage. Yet others, seeking more intense favours, might call on the boss at his residence, loaded with artificial enthusiasm and expensive gifts. The Citizens-Police Liaison Committee (CPLC), a prestigious and respectable organisation of Karachi, however, opted for a uniquely unbecoming method to express its overflowing ecstasy. It put in a quarter-page coloured advertisement in major newspapers to felicitate its boss, the Sindh governor, on being conferred the Nishan-e-Imtiaz award.
It is not my intention to discuss if the worthy governor, given the situation in Karachi, deserved this award. But if the interior minister could be conferred a PhD degree for restoring peace, then the governor could well have a Nishan-e-Imtiaz, too. The issue of real interest is not the governor but what made the CPLC use its official funds to felicitate its own boss.
The CPLC specialises in providing some vitally important services to the citizens of the province. It consists of a large number of very bright, brave and dedicated volunteers. Its funding is provided partly by the state and partly by corporate donations. People trust that the money will be spent for the good of common citizens.
One is surprised that no one from the CPLC staff took a stand on this blatant misuse of organisational funds. This example, however small, speaks a lot about the total collapse or absence of a check and balance process in government institutions. The silence of apparently sane individuals in obviously unethical situations is itself mindboggling. While it may not be possible to completely undo this blunder, can the CPLC management take at least two basic steps to restore public confidence: refund the amount from their own pocket (a few million rupees) spent on this illegal extravaganza and make a public apology to never again indulge in such acts of appeasement?
Naeem Sadiq
Published in The Express Tribune, September 7th, 2012.
