How dispossessed must all the newspaper-reading, not-so-upper class, citizens of Pakistan must feel when they read about the recent allocation of dozens of expensive plots of land to federal secretaries and other bureaucrats? There are families who work tirelessley for years, just to own their own Bhains, their own supari shop, and their own little flat in an inner-city apartment building. And then read how already corrupt bureacrats are are “awarded” plush plots as “bonus” payments.
In a recent news report in The Daily Times, PM Shaukat Aziz has directed that more than 80 plots of land be allocated to high ranking officers in the government.
Establishment Division Secretary Tariq Ali Bukhari confirmed that he had received new orders from the Prime Minister Secretariat to submit the plot allotment summary to the PM for the remaining 36 federal government officers. Earlier, Aziz had issued plot allotment directives for the grade 22 secretaries at the behest of the Secretaries Committee.
The prime minister has ordered that D-12 sector plots be allocated to every federal secretary (grade 22) who has held the position for the last 14 months.
While the role of the PM in this highway robbery of sorts is absolutly despicable, it is even more entertaining, if not outright maddening, that the bureaucrats consider themselves to be so entitled to this allocation that they threatened to disrupt functioning of the government if not given the allottment. According to the news report:
NWFP Chief Secretary Ijaz Qureshi had previously threatened to move a petition before the court against the plan. Later, however, the chief secretaries of Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh as well as the Inspectors General of Police (IGP) for Sindh, NWFP and Punjab also demanded plot allotments. It has also been suggested, sources said, that Islamabad-based bureaucrats who have already been allotted plots under government schemes, could be entitled to additional plot allotments.
I guess one way to silence Ijaz Qureshi was to just award a plot to him as well. Easily done. What is the PM thinking, and how can he be so easily blackmailed? Does he really think any of the people listed below deserve or need a gift?
The final decision on all the plots has not yet been taken, but I note with distress that chances are low for this decision to be reversed. In many ways this government is just following the norms of the bureaucracy as it has evolved in the past few decades. It is not news to anyone that government officers (generally speaking) have become used to rampant corruption and personal gain, inspite of their poor performance at the jobs.
It often feels that if these fringe benefits were not there, we would almost not have anyone to serve in the government. That is a terrible thought, knowing that we have bright young generation looking for career opportunities, if only given a chance. Something needs to be done to stop this rewarding of what has now almost become a mafia, thinly veiled under the guise of public servants. Or else our next generation wil also become roiled up in the same shinanigans as this failed generation of leaders.
I have no hesitation listing below the names of some of the people who expect to receive plots in this current allocation. This is probably not the first such allocation under this govenment, and may not even be the last, but at least this blog will forever document a list of those who received un-necessary bonuses, simply for being in influential positions:
Bureaucrats expected to be awarded plots under the new directives are: seven grade 22 officers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including former high commissioner to India, Aziz Khan, current Ambassador to Russia Mustafa Kamal and Special Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sher Afgan; two officers of Audit and Accounts Group, including Chaudhray Ilyas, Director General Intellectual Property Rights Yasin Tahir; two officers posted to the World Bank, Sabtain Fazal and Sayed Shuja Haider; Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairman Tariq Hameed; Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) member Muhib Ullah; Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) Chairiman Iftikhar Rasheed; National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Chairman Lt Gen (r) Saeed; two members of the Planning Commission; Trading Corporation of Pakistan Chairman Asif Zaman Ansari; Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Development Authority (SMEDA) Chairman Shahab Anwar Khawaja; Punjab Revenue Board senior member Safdar Javed; Punjab Planning and Development Chairman Salman Ghani; Election Commission of Pakistan Secretary Munawar Muhammad Dilshad; Senate Secretary Raja Muhammad Amin; Chief Secretary Sindh Fazalur Rehman; Chief Secretary Punjab Salman Sadique; Chief Secretary NWFP Ijaz Ahmed Qureshi; Chief Secretary Balochistan KB Rind; IGP Sindh Jehangir Mirza; IGP NWFP Rifat Pasha; and IGP Punjab Major (r) Ziaul Hassan.
I totally agree with Arslan Ali there are lot of honest civil servants working in Pakistan gov’t. They deserve more than a plot of land ,one great example was Ghulam Ishaq Khan who was a very honest civil servant.
No one grudges a competitive compensation to civil servants. But there is clear difference between a fair and legal compensation and bribery.
if we want govt to operate efficiently, we have to attract good people to the civil service. to attract good people, we have to pay something close to market salary which certainly is not the case right now. i would estimate that a top civil service probably earns not more than a third of the salary of his or her private sector counterpart in pak. sure their are perks but these perks cannot be monetised i.e. civil servants cannot turn these perks into cash. given the salary level, even top civil servants cannot dream of buying a house in a middle class locality much less in an upscale sector. in this situation its perfectly
legitimate for govt to compensate civil servants in other ways because the govt does not want civil servants to be living on the street after retirement. furthermore a top civil service has to be able to maintain a lifestyle which
matches his status in society. otherwise high calibre people will leave for private sector leaving the government only staffed with morons. given that the fiscal position of government is very khusta, giving plots to civil servants might be a more effective method of compensation. in
return for providing market based compensation govt can evaluate performance of civil servants by the same metrics used in the private sector. for example police officers should be evaluated on crime stats and tax officers on revenue collected.
btw the dengue fever crisis should be a good indication of the importance of having good people in government. if our civil service was effective such crisis could be avoided.
Pervaiz Alvi,
Your question looks flawed to me. The plots that are allotted to the bureaucrats or to the armed forces officers are allotted legally and transparently. Therefore, no one would or should have any objection to inheriting such property. But the question is not about legality. It is about legitimacy or propriety. For example, prime minister Shaukat Aziz, who is a rich man in his own right, according to the media reports, had two plots allotted to himself recently on land meant for the Police Foundation, Islamabad. Was this allotment legal? Yes. Was it legitimate? I don’t think so.
Such allotments breed greed and corruption. And the latest survey of the Transparency International confirms that. Pakistan has gone up a few notches among the most corrupt countries.
Arsalan Ali,
D-12 and E-12 are not government schemes. They are regular sectors meant for anyone who would be interested. The development of these sectors could not take place for a long time because of the litigation with the native people from whom th land was acquired. Since those problems were resolved a couple of years ago the development in these sectors has started and the prices have shot up to about 300,000 US dollars a plot of 600 sq. yards. However, the government allottees would get these plots at one tenth of the market price!
I have a question for the Pakistani and Pakistan-origin readers of this blog:
Suppose your son got married to the daughter of a Civil Service Bureaucrat or a high ranking Military Officer in Pakistan and she brought one of these “Expensive Plots” in dowery to your “household”, would you or your son refuse to be any part of this ill gotten gain.
Now please look inward and give me an honest answer if you can.