Transfers and postings of government officials on account of political interference is a common practice in the country that all government departments, especially police, have to live with. In case of refusal, the official concerned is even slapped with corruption charges. This is the harsh reality of life in Pakistan.
To analyse the basic reason behind such a political mindset, we need to look into our past. The feudal mindset has its roots in our colonial past. The British snatched land from the real land owners, and awarded it to those who were subservient and willing to provide their unconditional support to the British government.
Besides, we adopted democracy as the system of governance from our colonial masters. In reality, political parties continue to seek the support of village headman, influenced land owners and industrialists for sustaining their vote bank. This is what the colonisers used to do in order to keep the masses under control by controlling the headman.
In return, the headman used to get rewarded with land and titles. Today, such people use politicians to intervene in the functioning of police and revenue departments to suppress the rights of the locals who are financially weak.
This chain of brutality is unbreakable as the bureaucracy has not mustered enough courage to say ‘no’ to the politicians. Unfortunately, in their own capacities, the bureaucracy has become a tool in the hands of the headman, refusing to provide confidence to all their honest officials.
SAIRA AHMAD
TOBA TEK SINGH
