Conversation overheard
March 28, 2019
Dr.Saeeda Malik day
March 28, 2019

 

CPLC – The  Appeasement  Liaison

What do you do when you learn that a high national award has been conferred upon your boss?   People might respond in very different ways.   Some would consider it sufficient to   greet the boss the next time they run into him.  Those given to flattery might avail this opportunity to gain some brownie points and  beeline in front of the boss’s office to pay  an obsequious homage.  Yet others seeking more intense favours might  call on the boss at his residence, loaded with artificial enthusiasm and expensive  gifts.   The Citizens Police Liaison Committee’ (CPLC), a prestigious and respectable organizations of Karachi however opted for a  uniquely unbecoming method to express its overflowing ecstasy.  It put in a quarter-page coloured advertisement in major newspapers to felicitate its boss, the Sindh Governor on being conferred the award of Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

 

It is not my intention to discuss if the worthy Governor,  given the situation in Karachi, did in fact deserve a very  high national award.  But if the interior minister could be conferred a PhD for restoring peace, then the Governor could well have a Nishan-e-Imtiaz for convincing the Lord to relocate Heavens to Karachi.  The issue of real interest is not the Governor, but what made the CPLC use its official funds to felicitate its own boss.

CPLC specializes in providing some vitally important services to the citizens of the province.  It consists of a large number of  very bright, brave and  dedicated volunteers.  Its funding is provided partly by the state and partly by the corporate donations.  People trust that  the money would be spent for the good of common citizens and not to massage the ego of the governor.

 

One is surprised that no one from the CPLC staff took a stand on this blatant misuse of organizational funds.  This example however small, speaks a lot about the total collapse  or absence of a check and balance process  in government institutions. The silence of  apparently sane individuals  in obviously unethical situations  is itself mind boggling.    While it may not be possible to completely undo this blunder, can the CPLC management take at least two basic steps to restore public confidence.  Refund the amount from their own pocket ( a few million rupees) spent on this illegal extravaganza  and make a public apology to never again indulge  in such acts of appeasement.

Naeem Sadiq