Illegal appointments

A report has revealed that the Afghan office of the commissioner has been transformed, with unlawful appointments, into a JUI-F commissionerate. This was allegedly achieved on the orders of Commissioner of Afghan Refugees Ziaur Rehman, as many of those hired are from his hometown, Dera Ismail Khan. There are no surprises in the transformation; the commissioner is the step-brother of JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman and such behaviour is unofficially canonical for this country’s leaders, most unfortunately. The upper stratum of society is unable to view life through the umwelt of others, especially struggling citizens. The illegal postings of 28 persons to this office directly at a basic pay scale 16 is unjust because of its discrimination towards employees who were on track for promotions to achieve the same status. The pseudo-justification provided by Additional Commissioner General of Commissionerate of Afghan Refugees to refute nepotism and favouritism claims, explaining that other politicians do the same, is unacceptable. Persons in leadership roles ought to have more humility and nobility than to suggest two wrongs make a right.

Bypassing appropriate channels, or what some refer to as ‘backdoor entry’ to government postings, has been a commonplace practice for Pakistani leaders. This makes a mockery of the CSS system as well as the government itself since it finds the system incredulous enough to hire away at free will without testing and interviews. Instead, we should discredit the employees hired to office through backdoor entry, without demonstrating the necessary qualifications. We have yet to see action by the government in this case. For too long, this country has allowed favouritism to nestle within its systems. Such behaviour needs to be made an example out of — with action taken against the appointing officers and lower grade employees accommodated. Authoritative figures are not allowed to compromise on integrity at any time in their prestigious roles.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2017.

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