The twelfth man

The twelfth man

Like Iftikhar Arif’s twelfth man, I too have waited patiently, holding my breath for an accident to happen, for an event to occur  or a number plate to arrive.  Today was my 12^th unsuccessful visit to Pakistan’s indisputably most incompetent, corrupt and clueless  Sindh Excise and Taxation Department,  to check if the number plate of a car purchased 5 years ago, has finally been manufactured or not. Having already been deprived of Rs.1000 in advance (5 years ago), I was told this morning to deposit another Rs.1300 as an additional cost for a yet more fancy and imaginary number plate that may or may not ever come into existence.

The incurably complex cancer of non-availability of number plates in Sindh is not an issue of  mathematics, metallurgy or machines.  This much of science was known to human kind even 200 years ago, when the law required all horse-driven carriages in UK to carry a number plate.  However, what arrived in the province of Sindh was another kind of science, which can be best explained by the following two (representative) examples.

• In September 2019, fake accounts worth Rs10 billion,  jewellery items worth Rs150 million and numerous luxury cars were recovered from the palatial residence of  DG Parks Sindh.
• In September 2022, Rs17 million cash, 55 tola gold and prize bonds worth 2 million were recovered from the house of a Sindh Government Food Inspector in Karachi.

Considering the amount the petty inspectors can steal and stack in their private homes, it is not impossible to calculate, using the rules of geometric progression, the  immensity of the booty amassed by the senior bureaucrats, ministers and the Honourable Chief Minister.

The governments will continue to exploit and torture its captive citizens (read slaves), Holding the top management  accountable, by petitioning the  however rusty judicial system,  may be one immediate option.  Are there any takers? Best stop being the twelfth man, for your turn will never come.

Naeem Sadiq