A hungry police force

In total, the capital police spent Rs695.4 million in the course of PTI-PAT dharna

“Curses are like young chickens: they always come home to roost” wrote Robert Southey in 1809; and any number of exceedingly well fed but poorly documented chickens have just come to roost courtesy of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP). The Auditor General of Pakistan had his interest piqued by the fact that the capital police spent Rs326 million to feed themselves during the four months that the supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) held their sit-in in Islamabad in 2014. In total, the capital police spent Rs695.4 million in the course of the dharna, a sum that has been released to the department through a supplementary grant.

Whilst it is understood that the police on active duty 24/7 for extended periods need to eat along the way there is also an understanding that the costs they incur whilst on duty are a matter of record as well. The police did not record expenditure via a cash book nor was there any evidence regarding the deduction of income tax. There were at least 16 firms contracted — without benefit of a tender — to provide food and a lot of people made a lot of money very quickly.

Unsurprisingly, the AGP is doubtful about the authenticity of the expenditure as well he might be. It appears that the capital police regarded the dharna as an opportunity for a little off-book financial irregularity. It was not only food items that were off-book — so were the Rs101.5 million for vehicle hire. As to why Rs1.9 million were paid to a stone crushing and sand firm for the provision of tents the mind can but boggle. Perhaps stone tents are more durable than the regular canvas variety. The list of unusual payments continues, and there seems scarcely a single area of expenditure surrounding the policing of the dharna that is correctly accounted for. Farcical and risible as this may seem it is yet another example of casual corruption, the state being defrauded of millions by the very agency tasked with upholding law and order. We trust the Auditor General of Pakistan pursues this matter to the bitterest of ends.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2017.

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