Lifafa Journalism and Surprise Inspections
By Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd)
Westridge, Rawalpindi
A discussion on an Internet forum prompted me to write this piece.
No one can deny the power of the media termed as the 4th pillar of the state after the parliament, the executive and the judiciary. And who gives it such powers? The Qalam Kaars. As such it is of utmost importance that the main architects of this 4th pillar of the state make it stand firmly and stoically on the fair bastions of honesty, impartiality and truthfulness. If not, the media will be nothing more than a propaganda organ of some interested paymasters and the Qalam Kaars would be stoking the engines to churn out disgraceful falsehood.
Would any honest, self-respecting and honorable pen-wielding intellectual like to fall to such an abysmal depth of selling his pen for any price? I think not.
Therefore, let all Qalam Kaars resolve that henceforth they will not SELL their pen for any price and project the TRUTH, the ABSOLUTE TRUTH, and nothing but the TRUTH.
Surprise Inspections
During the course of a surprise check the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Shahbaz Sharif suspended an MS of a Rawalpindi hospital while the Interior Advisor Mr. Rehman Malik suspended the SHO of a Rawalpindi police station for illegally detaining and torturing two persons. While the checks by the two gentlemen are highly laudatory, as they are bound to promote efficiency and discipline in the departments, it is a fact that such checks cannot be conducted too often by such highly placed officials for obvious reasons. Therefore, such checks should also be made by the respective heads of departments and senior officials to augment supervision and control to a greater extent. And the most effective way of introducing this system is that whenever the likes of Messrs Shahbaz Sharif and Rehman Malik find something wrong at a place, they should, apart from the immediate officers concerned on the spot take disciplinary action against their immediate superiors for not exercising due supervision and command and control over their subordinates. In the case of the above mentioned police station the SP or the SSP concerned should also have also been suspended for failing to ensure the police station operating properly and lawfully. In this way a lot many senior officials, instead of merely sitting in their cozy air-conditioned offices, would be doing what the CM or the Advisor are presently doing.
This will also bring to an end what I call the vertical alignment of corruption - booty being passed up the ladder to the higher echelons in the department. When the immediate superior officer would start checking the malpractices of his immediate subordinates, how will a Patwari pass on the loot to the Gardawar and Tehsildar? Sack the immediate superior for the misdeeds of his immediate subordinate and he will never let him do any hanky panky. “Set a thief to catch a thief” and the administration will automatically improve to the relief of the common man.
