We are familiar with the term ‘robbery,’ which is basically theft of somebody’s valuables. But not many people will be familiar with ‘jobbery,’ a term that implies illegal theft of a candidate’s right to a particular job.
It might surprise the reader to learn that the founding father of this nation, M. Ali Jinnah spoke about this particular issue in his first speech to the constituent assembly. On August 11, 1947, he shed light on the various challenges confronting the new born state in his famous speech, one of which was what he saw as the ‘evil’ of jobbery. Here are his words:
“The next thing that strikes me is this: Here again it is a legacy which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any influence directly or indirectly brought to bear upon me. Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.”
Warning against this legacy, Jinnah clearly vowed to strike it down wherever he encountered it. Keeping his words in context, he would be absolutely disgusted at the practice of jobbery in this country. And there is an even bigger tragedy at hand: the mechanisms and institutions devised to reign in jobbery are actually ending up incentivising such behaviour!
The following lines are real examples aimed at demonstrating that there exist two Pakistans.
First: a few weeks ago, a letter by a PhD went viral. Addressed to the prime minister, it narrated a three-year unsuccessful ordeal of job hunting after completion of his doctorate. The lad was obviously talented and skilled, but seemed to lack the right connections and financial muscle to grease a few palms.
Second: a few years ago, a petition landed in a high court. A civil service aspirant had asked the court to rectify a serious injustice. She was a talented English writer and a frequent blogger, who ended up receiving a failure grade in an English essay. Confident that her essay was top notch, she challenged the decision. It turned out that she got passing marks but somebody had changed her marks to a failure grade. The case still lingers in court despite jobbery being as crystal clear as daylight, and the organization where this happened is known well for its corrupt practices. The candidate, after getting nothing from the court, gave up her struggle and now works somewhere else.
Third; recently, a young man fainted on a road and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. For over a decade now, he has sacrificed his time, family and leisure to work assiduously for his employer, a financial institution, selling their products and bringing in business. Given the deteriorating economic conditions, his employer told him that he was likely to lose his job in a few days since they were cutting down on employees. The man has three kids, a family to feed and rents to pay. All his hard work of over a decade stands ignored, and there is no protection for him or his family.
This is one picture of Pakistan. Here’s the other one.
Jobbery I: The contract of two consultants ended in 2010. But since 2009, they have been working illegally as regular officers of the federal government in Grade-19. In contravention to every known government and Supreme Court rule and direction, they were directly placed against these vacancies without any ad in newspapers. For more than a decade, they have been showered with substantial benefits under the monetization scheme. A petition was filed against them in a high court in March 2018, with Finance Division affirming that their hiring and perks were illegal. It is October 2019, and the judge refuses to hear the case. Meanwhile, early this year, they were promoted from directors to additional director generals by their bosses.
Jobbery II: In 2018, a petition was lodged in a high court against a 73-year-old person who had clung to his post in the Planning Commission. During proceedings, it turned out that his contract was not revived since 2011, yet he still continued due to the blessings of a former minister for planning, who used him to get funds allocated for specific projects. A verdict did come this year, but it astonished everyone. The judge ruled that although the person was working illegally, his benefits would not be retrieved. Even more astonishing was the ruling that he could apply again. Not surprisingly, within a month or so, a new ad appeared, tailor-made for him.
Jobbery III: Two serving bureaucrats were caught red-handed trying to get selected for specific seats through dubious means. They were serving on advertised posts but managed to apply for them despite the fact that both were overage when they applied. It is quite apparent that they had insider help from the organization that has been tasked with recruiting people for government services. The candidate who brought this to the notice of the court is still awaiting his recommendation letter since 2017.
This is not all. I can cite thousands of such cases where jobbery has been practiced with impunity. We are aware, for example, of how government departments have been stuffed with thousands of employees without any merit or required qualification. Earlier this year, PIA fired many employees when their education credentials turned out to be fake (some of them were pilots. Just imagine!). The human resource wing of PIA never bothered to check their credentials over all these years, nor did the courts ever order retrieval of benefits from them. The message here is: just try to get a job by hook or crook. Even if you get caught, nothing will ever be retrieved from you. Put another way, both the executive and the judiciary is actively incentivising such illegal jobberies.
If the Quaid were alive today, he would be incensed. The practice of jobbery has seeped deep into the psyche of this land and its people, 72 years after he warned us against this destructive legacy. What would dismay him even more, though, is the judiciary and the overall state of governance within this country. Judiciary is supposed to protect the rights of the citizens, and to act as a bulwark against jobbery while enforcing fundamental rights.
It is just astonishing to witness the display of entrenched shamelessness all around us. Jobbery is an apt reflection of such shamelessness. The lesson one conjures from all this is that we have learnt nothing from history. In 1971, we lost half of Pakistan because the rulers of present day Pakistan were unjust to the other half. But we carry on unperturbed.
When it came to honesty, financial probity and upholding highest moral and ethical standards, Jinnah was a giant. Unfortunately, after him, Pakistan has been left at the mercy of midgets. We have, and we are, embarrassing the great man’s legacy to no end.
The writer is an economist
It might surprise the reader to learn that the founding father of this nation, M. Ali Jinnah spoke about this particular issue in his first speech to the constituent assembly. On August 11, 1947, he shed light on the various challenges confronting the new born state in his famous speech, one of which was what he saw as the ‘evil’ of jobbery. Here are his words:
“The next thing that strikes me is this: Here again it is a legacy which has been passed on to us. Along with many other things, good and bad, has arrived this great evil, the evil of nepotism and jobbery. I want to make it quite clear that I shall never tolerate any kind of jobbery, nepotism or any influence directly or indirectly brought to bear upon me. Whenever I will find that such a practice is in vogue or is continuing anywhere, low or high, I shall certainly not countenance it.”
Warning against this legacy, Jinnah clearly vowed to strike it down wherever he encountered it. Keeping his words in context, he would be absolutely disgusted at the practice of jobbery in this country. And there is an even bigger tragedy at hand: the mechanisms and institutions devised to reign in jobbery are actually ending up incentivising such behaviour!
The following lines are real examples aimed at demonstrating that there exist two Pakistans.
First: a few weeks ago, a letter by a PhD went viral. Addressed to the prime minister, it narrated a three-year unsuccessful ordeal of job hunting after completion of his doctorate. The lad was obviously talented and skilled, but seemed to lack the right connections and financial muscle to grease a few palms.
Second: a few years ago, a petition landed in a high court. A civil service aspirant had asked the court to rectify a serious injustice. She was a talented English writer and a frequent blogger, who ended up receiving a failure grade in an English essay. Confident that her essay was top notch, she challenged the decision. It turned out that she got passing marks but somebody had changed her marks to a failure grade. The case still lingers in court despite jobbery being as crystal clear as daylight, and the organization where this happened is known well for its corrupt practices. The candidate, after getting nothing from the court, gave up her struggle and now works somewhere else.
Third; recently, a young man fainted on a road and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. For over a decade now, he has sacrificed his time, family and leisure to work assiduously for his employer, a financial institution, selling their products and bringing in business. Given the deteriorating economic conditions, his employer told him that he was likely to lose his job in a few days since they were cutting down on employees. The man has three kids, a family to feed and rents to pay. All his hard work of over a decade stands ignored, and there is no protection for him or his family.
This is one picture of Pakistan. Here’s the other one.
Jobbery I: The contract of two consultants ended in 2010. But since 2009, they have been working illegally as regular officers of the federal government in Grade-19. In contravention to every known government and Supreme Court rule and direction, they were directly placed against these vacancies without any ad in newspapers. For more than a decade, they have been showered with substantial benefits under the monetization scheme. A petition was filed against them in a high court in March 2018, with Finance Division affirming that their hiring and perks were illegal. It is October 2019, and the judge refuses to hear the case. Meanwhile, early this year, they were promoted from directors to additional director generals by their bosses.
Jobbery II: In 2018, a petition was lodged in a high court against a 73-year-old person who had clung to his post in the Planning Commission. During proceedings, it turned out that his contract was not revived since 2011, yet he still continued due to the blessings of a former minister for planning, who used him to get funds allocated for specific projects. A verdict did come this year, but it astonished everyone. The judge ruled that although the person was working illegally, his benefits would not be retrieved. Even more astonishing was the ruling that he could apply again. Not surprisingly, within a month or so, a new ad appeared, tailor-made for him.
Jobbery III: Two serving bureaucrats were caught red-handed trying to get selected for specific seats through dubious means. They were serving on advertised posts but managed to apply for them despite the fact that both were overage when they applied. It is quite apparent that they had insider help from the organization that has been tasked with recruiting people for government services. The candidate who brought this to the notice of the court is still awaiting his recommendation letter since 2017.
This is not all. I can cite thousands of such cases where jobbery has been practiced with impunity. We are aware, for example, of how government departments have been stuffed with thousands of employees without any merit or required qualification. Earlier this year, PIA fired many employees when their education credentials turned out to be fake (some of them were pilots. Just imagine!). The human resource wing of PIA never bothered to check their credentials over all these years, nor did the courts ever order retrieval of benefits from them. The message here is: just try to get a job by hook or crook. Even if you get caught, nothing will ever be retrieved from you. Put another way, both the executive and the judiciary is actively incentivising such illegal jobberies.
If the Quaid were alive today, he would be incensed. The practice of jobbery has seeped deep into the psyche of this land and its people, 72 years after he warned us against this destructive legacy. What would dismay him even more, though, is the judiciary and the overall state of governance within this country. Judiciary is supposed to protect the rights of the citizens, and to act as a bulwark against jobbery while enforcing fundamental rights.
It is just astonishing to witness the display of entrenched shamelessness all around us. Jobbery is an apt reflection of such shamelessness. The lesson one conjures from all this is that we have learnt nothing from history. In 1971, we lost half of Pakistan because the rulers of present day Pakistan were unjust to the other half. But we carry on unperturbed.
When it came to honesty, financial probity and upholding highest moral and ethical standards, Jinnah was a giant. Unfortunately, after him, Pakistan has been left at the mercy of midgets. We have, and we are, embarrassing the great man’s legacy to no end.
The writer is an economist