LAHORE: People have suffered a lot in recent years, and it is time to stop the rot through improved governance, doing away with whimsical decisions, fair and transparent accountability, actions against tax evaders and rule of law.
These virtues are preached by all rulers but are selectively applied. If a deputy commissioner for instance fails to control law and order he is immediately transferred.
At the same time, if the same official refuses to obey orders to pressurise political opponents he/she is more severely punished by posting him in the remotest area or making him an official on special duty (meaning no duty or responsibility at all).
We have seen deputy commissioners getting harassed at the start of the tenure of this government, assuming the start of a new transparent era. But they were harassed for not only refusing to follow the lines given by the ruling party member, but also for leaking their written requests to the press.
We are all aware of the fate of DPO Dipalpur and IG Islamabad. In fact, the IG succumbed to the ruling elite by bowing out of the office despite orders of the superior court to continue.
A civil servant is not held accountable if he/she obeys the command of the rulers and takes actions against rules and regulations. Influence and bribery are the two alternatives on which most bureaucrats operate.
When they are asked by an influential person to let go of a tax evader, they let off others by taking some bribe. Criminals are freed from police lock up on the insistence of MNAs or other influential people, which provides opportunity to the officials to let off other criminals after receiving adequate kickback.
These practices are not new in our country, but the intensity of unlawful acts has increased in recent years.
It seems that there is no government and rule of the jungle prevails. The bureaucrats are making the most from the loosening of the writ of the government.
When the tax officials are asked to nab tax evaders, they unleash their terror on the smallest segment of tax evaders, who are more in number, but their total evasion is very low compared with the tax evasion that the influential indulge in.
By harassing small traders, they succeed in inducing them to agitate in the streets. The government then intervenes and stops them from harassing them.
The real tax evasion takes place elsewhere. Those who possess black money, built large commercial buildings which they either sell to different parties or enjoy the rent for life.
They do not pay any taxes though they do grease the palms of tax officials regularly to stay
out of the tax net even if they have influence in the corridors of power.
They use this influence when some honest officer tries to ‘harass’ them. They finance different political parties so that whoever assumes power remains under their influence.
These tax evaders are smugglers, who indulged in trade under-invoicing. Even the documented sector, that under reports their production and sales park their money in avenues in real estate or stock market.
They are extremely influential and cannot be touched. Still, they keep the bureaucrats happy by pleasing them with gifts or pure cash.
When governments try to impose their will instead of rule of law, they appoint officers of their choice at important posts.
The bureaucrats may have a soft corner for the rulers, but they are shrewd enough not to go all the way with the illegal orders, which may haunt them later in their career when the rulers are deposed or booted out of the government.
Prudent rulers do not go beyond a certain limit but those who are not so, make fast changes on important posts. In the process they lose the goodwill of the bureaucrat who was summarily transferred after a few months of posting.
Such whimsical postings and transfers have taken place in the last three years. No finance secretary has survived more than six months. The average tenure of FBR chairman has been six months. The post of Inspector General of Police in Punjab and Islamabad has averaged less than a year.
The transfers are as frequent in other ministries and lower levels. Those who assume office take some time to be aware of the problems of their department, but by the time they have an idea how to resolve the issues, they are transferred, and their successor goes through the same process. This has made the government dysfunctional at all levels.
The government has lost its writ giving free hand to profiteers, looters, criminals, speculators, and exploiters. The ever-increasing inflation, the ever-declining rupee and uncontrolled price hikes are the result of this bad governance.
