The most painful questions i have to face when i travel back home especially to my village are the following;
1. Yaar fauji, apnay pind which chori bari wadh gayee hai, aye fauj kyn nai kujh kardi..??!!!
2. Yaar inna nay patrol fir wadha chadya aye..fauj kyn nai inna nu rokdi..??!!
etc
etc
Initially i would just avoid the questions, then i used to tell them that Fauj jai Pulce nahi jo choron nu pharna shoro karday, but now i just see at their faces and smile coz i know that the poor ignorant lot is asking the question is also quite innocent. May be we need to give these people a crash course regarding the Charter of Duties of our institutions, right? But after going through the posts here i guess some other Pakistanis also need to undergo the same short cadre.
May be if MQM thugs are collecting bhatta the 5 Corp Commander should stop manning the eastern border and place a fauji in every chowk around N. Nazimabad and Lalu Khait.
People here now would say that again it is the Army because of which other LEAs dont get their due share and in turn they land up loosing credibility. May be these people should spend some time with a RPO/DPO or for that matter a DCO, only then they would come to know about the amount of funds these people 'waste' on stupid and petty issues and their luxuries. Those who show concerns over Army's business venture need to visit Okara and may be then they could see the Petrol Pump being run the police, or may be they should visit DPO Multan so that he can tell them how many nurseries he is running there, or may be they can go talk to DPO Gujrat and ask him the shops he has given rented out there. There is NOT a single DPO in this country who doesnt run a business in one shape or other! and i am not talking about his personal ventures but those which he manages through is designation officially. The RPO is the guy to whom they are answerable in terms of the income.
Did you people know a DCO is the King of the budget that he receives for his district and except for the developmental funds he is answerable for nothing? He and the District Officers working under him has a fixed fuel budget which normally total up to just little lower than a million rupees per month and if it is not consumed in that particular month the surplus amount is to given back. But then who likes to give something back to the govt? Should i tell you people the name of that DO (Revenue) who travels to his home 95 kms away from his duty district on every alternative day on sarkari gari? Or may be i should give you the name of that DO (Planning) whose family would visit him thrice a week on sarkari potohar jeep from a place that was 140 km away from his duty station. i know Officers from DMG group who belonged Multan was only posted in Jhania, Khanewal, Ahmedpur Sial, Duniapur and Mian Channun in his 10 year of service? And then he would proudly boast that, Sir ji..ghar say bahir tu rahay hain (as if staying 50-80km away from ones home is staying away) magar kabhi mehsoos nahi howa.
Mehsoos khutta hona hai when he would visit his family almost every day on sarkari kharcha?!!!
Believe me, i have spent time with these guys (during IS duties, especially in Moharrams). Once i and another Officer had some sarkari business somehwere in Punjab. One of the District Officer there had been very nice to me. i decided to call him for dinner in my tent. i told my cook to prepare guud food. We had an appetizer, 2-3 dishes, sweat, green tea etc. Ofcourse the entire expenditure on the food was to be paid/shared by myself and that other officer so we made sure that the dinner was a guud one. During the dinner the DO started talking about dinners in general. We had invited him alone but he brought with him another DO but then thankfully the food was enough to accommodate 4 men. While we were talking the other dude says; Sir, lagta hai Army walay bhi khola kharch kartay hain khanay shannay per, bara acha khana banaya howa hai!! And for a moment i was stunned!! Man, i am spending all this from my own pocket and he tells me that i am feeding him from sarkari paisa?!! Though it was against the etiquettes but i still properly informed him that everything his highness was eating would be shared by myself and this other officer, we in the Army dont have a culture of mufta khana. It's only limited to the troops langer. And the surprised guy tells me; Sir hamary han tu aisa nahi hai, once i was posted in Faisalabad and the DCO there had this very GUUD practice that every week he would instruct one of the DOs to arrange a dinner and then we all (the Distrcit Management) would go there and enjoy the food. Ab zahir see baat hai wo DO apni jaib say tu 10 admion ka khana nahi kar sakta na. i actually had to reconfirm it from him regarding the 'every week' part and to my surprise the answer was a big yes. To my further amazement the guy was feeling proud telling me all this.
Atleast in the Army we utilize our own manpower if it comes to small scale business, like a unit vegetable shop. But these guys would let their manpower (the huge manpower that includes the chowkidar, mali, cook, waiter of an empty Dak Bangla, Irrigation Dept's Rest House which is occupied once in 2 years that too for 2 days etc). i know the chowkidar of one of the Rest House of Irrigation dept keeping his cows there. He was the most happy man on the face of this world as he tells me; Sir jee bari zabardat nukari hai..2 farlaang pe ghar hai mera, tankhowa pehli ko mil jati hai, Rest House mai maal dangar rakha howa hai, 6 mahinay bad pind k choudary k mehmaan ajain tu 15-20 din k liye rest house unko karaye pe day dyty hain, jo paisy atay hain wo mai or XEN saab adhay adhay kar laity hain.
Loshay hain bhai!
But the most unfortunate thing is that the rest house keeps receiving thousands of rupees on quarterly basis under the maintenance head which the XEN 'religiously' expends over the rest house i.e. fake bills are prepared. This situation has two other variations; One, the DCO/XEN/SE etc would keep his gaon ka banda has chowkidar under an arrangement where the guy would pay some amount of his pay in Janab's khidmat, or the chowkidar is spared the pay share provided he agrees to maintain Janab's cow/goats without additional expenditure. Sarkari khara kis ko acha nahi lagta bhai??!!
Moreover, some share out of the income received through petrol pumps, nurseries and shops by the Police is expended in welfare of Shaheeds of Police but most of it is utilized for luxuries. i have this classfellow of mine who is a PA of one of the DPO. Once i visited him and he took me to a restaurant. After we started eating a guy came to us and asked us politely if we needed something else, he was not exactly asking us but giving us much protocol. i was busy eating and thought that i would tip him at the end (as a rule i tip always). After he left that classfellow asks me, han bhai ab khush hai? And i ask him, kyn bhai? O yaar restaurant ka malik thujay pochnay aya hai or tu daikh he nahi raha?!! Being in the Army i am not used to such 'protocol' and i ask him why would the owner himself come and treat us? Lah... main teray sath baitha hon or tu kehta hai k pochnay kyn aya hai. And it was then i got the joke. i then tell him yaar tum pulce walay yaki say baz na ana. Then he tells me, nahi yaar ye baat nahi hai, wo Wednesday walay din lunch to ha DPO saab ka is restaurant say jata hai na, to malik say kafi salam dua hai. And i am like, what? Kyn yahan say kyn jata hai? o yaar tujhy nahi pata, daily ka khana jata hai different restaurants/hotels say. And i tell him, ye kaya bakwas hai, chalo i am sure wo khata tu nahi hoga usay. Khata hai yaar, aksar kehta hai retiring room mai ja k khana lagao. i again tell him, yaar usay pata nahi hoga k ye kaha say ata hai, ye kam nichay wala tabka ziada karta hai. Then he again surprises me, pata hai pata kyn nahi hai, daily ka khana office mai khatay hain saab or bill zero, tu tera khyal hai usy pata nahi hai k khana kaha say ata hai?!
i remember once i was coming back from flood duties and we have been working in consultation with district administration. During packing i saw my clerk packing a large number of paper rims and numerous printer cartridges. i ask him that i havent sanctioned any money so from where did you buy all this stationary? And he tells me that DCO saab k clerk say li hain. Sir un kay pas lakhaon ki pari hai, baich daytay hain ye log jo bach jati hai tu us sy lay aya main!! i was not listening to him anymore as i was thinking that when i was Adjutant in my unit my clerks from A Branch would fcuk that hp deskjet's disposal cartridge with refiller injection for so many time that even its sponge would die and tore up, because the stationary grant that my unit received on yearly basis was hardly enough to purchase a few rice paper rims and most of the DO sheets would be purchase by my unit from the cutting/share the Officers and Men would deposit every month out of their pay!!
You know what, the budget can kiss my arse anytime!
