Corruption becoming the mindset?

Regretting the fact that corruption had taken roots in Pakistan's society while addressing the newly promoted BPS-22 grade officers at the Aiwan-e-Sadr, the President asked them to always act in the best interest of the State and the nation, and strive to ensure rules-based governance by refusing to obey the orders of the 'high-ups' (politicians) that contradict the rules and the law.
He deserves credit for recognising the fact that, over the years, by obeying the orders of the high-ups that violated the rules and the law, the bureaucracy allowed a suicidal tendency - corruption - to take roots in the society. However, the President couldn't do much to check this rot, as proved by continuing distortions in administration of the State.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of the National Assembly has begun examining the 2010-11 audited accounts of the Ministry of Communication and has expressed its dismay over violation of the prescribed rules in awarding tenders. Isn't the PAC examining these accounts too late since many committers of these offences may now be inaccessible i.e. living abroad comfortably?
According to the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), Ministry of Communication violated the sanctity of august forums like Central Development Working Party and Executive Committee of the National Economic Council by obliging contractors via making changes in the actual scope of work and the costs prescribed there for in PC-1s of several projects.
There were instances wherein tenders for amounts double the costs projected in the PC-1s were accepted. That wasn't all; the lowest bidders were disqualified and contracts awarded to bidders whose key qualification was their links with the 'high-ups'. Is it therefore any surprise that Pakistan has become the country with the most expensive metro-bus projects?
One such project was the four-lane underpass at Wah Gate No. 1 Taxila-Hasanabdal Section. While according to the project's PC-1 its cost could be around Rs 491 million, it was awarded to the bidder who sought Rs 758 million for executing it - amount that exceeded the PC-1 estimate by 82 percent. Should such crimes be looked into years after their commission?
Another such project was the 150km Qila Saifullah-Zhob highway that cost Rs 7.9 billion. While no explanation was offered why the accepted bid amount exceeded the PC-1 estimate by 49.75 percent, Secretary Ministry of Communication said that awarding the tender to the second lowest bidder was the joint 'exceptional' decision of the Provincial Chief Minister and eight senators.
During 2008 alone, the National Highway Authority awarded 10 contracts totalling Rs 493 million to a single entity under the Rawalpindi Urban Area Development Project without calling for project-wise tenders. The AGP said that these issues were only the tip of the iceberg; poor execution, spending far above estimated costs, and frequent divergence of funds, reflects a defiant 'mindset'.
Recently, Karachi's Commissioner cancelled all agreements leasing state land on the banks of 30 storm-water drains by declaring them illegal implying thereby that the relevant district administrations entered into illegal leases on a massive scale. Had the current rain tragedy not made it imperative to cleanse these storm-water drains, this crime wouldn't have been exposed.
How many plots were leased out illegally is exposed by the fact that, reportedly, over 3,000 KMC workers are now carrying out drain cleaning work besides 50 excavators and 150 dumpers whose services have been acquired on rent. Could land leasing at this huge scale go on without the knowledge of Karachi's municipal administration and successive provincial governments?
Illegal leasing of state land - a crime - has gone on for decades in all provinces, especially in the high-population Sindh and Punjab provinces. The beneficiaries of this mega crime were the 'high-ups' and the bureaucracy - the deadliest combination that can destroy any country - whose effect is now visible in Pakistan's slide on every global competitive ranking.
A recent inquiry ordered by the IGP Sindh revealed that 4,000 policemen (from DSPs down to constables) were directly or indirectly involved in criminal activities, and 1,000 of them were posted in Karachi. Initially, 20 SHOs (13 posted in Karachi's police stations) were removed from their posts until completion of investigations about their alleged connections with criminal groups.
This state of affairs owes itself to politicisation of the bureaucracy by replacing forthright and honest bureaucrats with cronies, which began during the Ayub era, and continued ever since, the classical example thereof being set by the PPP regime that ruled Pakistan in the 1970s. Posting cronies in key state offices is now a standard practice followed by all in-power regimes.
On July 26, Islamabad High Court (IHC) declared 'void' the promotion of over 300 grade 20 and 21 bureaucrats including Chairman CDA, Home Secretary Punjab, and acting PEMRA chief. IHC directed the Establishment Division to re-submit these cases to concerned authorities after reframing the promotion rules - an imperative exercise that may yet be conducted superficially.
This effort to correct the system flaw owes itself to petitions filed by several bureaucrats against promotion of the above-referred 300 officers, because, despite the petition-filing officers' eligibility, they were not promoted due to a 'controversial' (crony-benefiting?) performance evaluation formula imposed by the federal government on the Central Selection Board (CSB) in 2012.
The formula afforded CSB the discretion to award 15 marks based on the integrity and reputation of the officers. In special cases, the CSB could award additional marks to an officer who was above 58 years of age, and couldn't attend the mandatory staff college courses for promotion from grade 18 upwards due to 'unavoidable' circumstances which weren't defined.
According to the lawyers of the petitioners, this 'discretion' wasn't exercised fairly and majority of the above-referred 300 promoted officers are the "batch-mates of the powerful officers in the PM Secretariat." The other distortions exposed during the hearing convinced the IHC to announce that "the entire process carried out by the CSB on the basis of the formula is declared illegal."
An example of the 'competent' bureaucrats this trend promoted is that while the Metrological Department failed to forewarn (despite its supposed interaction with global weather forecasting agencies) that the 2015 summer would be the hottest in the past 133 years, the National Disaster Management Authority's TV advertisement are asking people to move to safer places on their own before floods inundate their habitations.
Hopefully, given the ongoing operation to hold the incompetent and corrupt bureaucrats and politicians accountable, we won't hear stories about how district administration bureaucrats and local politicians benefited from the supplies of food, medicines, tents and clothing meant for the flood-hit people -a prolonged tragedy portraying organised theft which was witnessed during the 2010, 2011 and 2014 floods.