LAHORE: Police recruitment 'stalled under political pressure'
By Nasir Jamal
LAHORE, April 12: Recruitment of 6,600 constables, wireless operators and drivers for highways patrol posts has been stalled by the Punjab government under pressure
of the legislators of the ruling PML-Q who want their men to be 'accommodated' even if it has to be done at the cost of merit.
Sources in the Punjab police told Dawn here on Monday that the provincial government had stopped the district recruitment committees from declaring the results of the written test of candidates and postpone their interviews.
The department had started the recruitment process on the instructions of the IG through district recruitment committees headed by their respective DIGs only last month and conducted the "endurance test" of the applicants. The successful candidates were asked to appear for written test early this month.
However, the sources said, the committees had been instructed by the political authorities to stop announcement of the results of written test and postpone interviews as the MPAs (and in certain cases MNAs) belonging to the ruling party brought pressure on Chief Minister Pervaiz Elahi to adjust their men even if they were not cleared in the written test and interview.
The situation in the provincial metropolis took an interesting turn when the results of the written test of over 7,000 candidates for some 264 vacancies were declared by the committee in just 24 hours of conducting the examination.
"The district recruitment committee was fully aware that the MPAs, MNAs and politicians from the ruling party would definitely try to influence the process and did not waste time in declaring the results," the sources said.
Moreover, the sources said, the successful candidates were twice called for interview which had to be "postponed" under orders from the provincial government. "Later on the Chief Minister's Secretariat instructed the recruitment committee to provide it with the written test and the results," the sources said.
They said all recruitments in the police department were being made on "merit" for the last seven years or so. "If the government bows down to the pressure of its legislators and bypasses merit to accommodate their nominees, it will open up the floodgates of corruption and indiscipline in the police force as was the case in the 1980s and early 1990s before Shahbaz Sharif took over as chief minister of the province and ensured merit in the recruitment process," said a senior police officer.
The sources said though it was not possible to give the exact number of applicants, but it should be around 100,000 or so. "The applicants include hundreds of graduates as well as post-graduates," they said.
