The development raises significant questions regarding the checks and controls in place within the Sindh Police to ensure fair hiring. Is there no way to independently verify the documents provided by applicants? What about internal and external audit mechanisms to ensure that hiring processes are not circumvented? And finally, why did it take so long for this blatant corruption to be revealed? The last question can be answered if one takes into account that the country’s police departments suffer from systemic corruption at all levels, some of which comes to light but most gets ignored simply because it is so blatant that it is considered to be a built-in feature of the system. In theory, hiring processes in government departments are supposed to be stringent because there are several mechanisms in place to give an equal chance to all candidates, methods to detect flaws and frauds, and accountability after the process has been completed to ensure fairness. That senior officials in a police department can get away with issuing fake appointments to 1,800 individuals and not be held accountable for years, goes to show how deep the rot is. One wonders what ‘exemplary punishment’ will fit this flagrant crime committed by the very officials who are meant to protect public interest.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2016.
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