Four journeys, one destination

Newly appointed Hindu investigation officers share their stories

KARACHI:

Hishmat Meghwar, 25, hailing from the remote town of Kaloi in Tharparkar, is the only one in his family who acquired an education. His father, a mason, and two brothers, both of whom are daily wage workers, worked day in and day out to pay for his education.

Jai Soraj, 29, from Mithi, Tharparkar, spent the early years of his life at a government school and his father's small handicraft shop, where he worked to support his family to make a living.

Meanwhile, Deepak Rai, hailing from Sanghar, busied himself making the best of the learning opportunities presented to him. Far away from his native city, he completed his schooling in Karachi, before moving to London to study law.

Like Rai, Akash Kumar, also aspired to further his knowledge of law and worked hard for it.

Back then, they had little idea that they would cross paths in life.

Making it happen

But they did - in January this year.

All of them sat a competitive exam conducted by the Sindh Public Service Commission for the post of investigation inspectors for a separate investigation wing being set up in the police department.

Scores, including over a 100 candidates from the Hindu community, had applied for the test for 27 posts, and out of them, 132 were shortlisted to sit the exam.

In the end, Meghawar, Soraj, Rai and Kumar were the only ones from the minority community who were successful.

Elated at the success, Megahwar said while speaking to The Express Tribune, "I have finally lived up to their [his family's] expectations."

He had dreamt of this day all his life, while attending classes at the government school at his village and studying criminology at the University of Sindh, Jamshoro.

Also read: Ghost schools, dilapidated buildings tell a tragic tale in Sindh

The road to success

Looking back on his days of struggle, Meghawar said he had experienced first-hand the plight of the labour class, sleeping on an empty stomach in a sandy desert.

"Whatever my family earned, they spent it on my education, in hopes that I would land a good job someday," Meghawar added.

However, an investigation officer is not what he exactly wanted to be.

"I always wanted to join the civil service and sat the combined competitive exam two years ago for the post of a 17-grade officer," he related, adding that he failed to qualify for the post.

Now, appointed as an inspector, he plans to again try for landing a job in the civil service sometime in the future. But for now, he is content with what he has achieved thus far.

Soraj has similar dreams. He too sees himself in the civil service in the future.

Having studied telecommunication at the Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Soraj's first job was that of a primary teacher. Later, he appeared in a competitive exam conducted by the Institute of Business Administration, Sukkur and qualified for the post of a monitoring assistant in the provincial education department.

His brother, who is a civil judge, has been his inspiration, and working hard as him, Soraj aspires to be a civil service officer in the future.

For Rai, it was a change of mind, essentially, that led to his appointment as an inspector.

"I was preparing for CSS, but one of my friends convinced me to apply for the post of an inspector instead," he told The Express Tribune.

Turned out, he was one of the four from the minority Hindu community appointed to the post.

Sharing his plans for the future, he said, "No one from Hindu community has, so far, passed the CSS exam to become a police officer. I want to achieve that."

Not the only 'four'

Besides four from the Hindu community, four women, namely Zain Tasfeer, Bakhtawar Kiran, Sayda Sindhu, and Hina Muzzamil, have also been appointed as investigation officers.

Like the four men from the Hindu community, two of these women are from rural areas, and two from urban areas.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2021.