The police and civil administration must hang their heads in shame over the recent incident at Nankana Sharif in which they failed to establish the writ of the government by failing to demolish the encroachments made by some unscrupulous persons on the state land. A TV footage said it all:the encroachers were shown forcibly rebuilding the demolished part of the encroachment by force as the hapless police just acted as a silent spectator unable to prevent them from doing so. It is alleged that a member of the NA from the area belonging to the ruling party tacitly supported the hoodlum.
Time was when the police and civil administration enjoyed immense respect of the people. They were loved and feared at the same time but that was the time when they used to be recruited on merit. For quite some time now the lower echelon both in the police and civil administration is being recruited on the recommendation of the politicians. They are now more loyal to them rather than to the book of law. That is the precise reason that they have lost respect and confidence of the common man. Hamza Shareef is reported to have expressed his annoyance that the bureaucrats are these days taking a cue from one of the inmates of the prime minister house rather than from him. Why should they take orders from him or for that matter from somebody else?Hasn’t the Founder of nation clearly stated that the government servants should be answerable to the state only; they should be slaves to the law of the land rather than to the sitting governments which are transitory in nature.
The common man would give ear to the police and the civil administrator only if he is hundred percent sure that they are not inclined politically to any political party, they are not nominees of the ruling party and follow no political agenda. That is the precise reason why it is so necessary that bureaucracy and police should never be politicised. While an independent civil service and police are an asset to every sitting government, a politicised civil service and police becomes a liability for it. Why this simple lesson in the art of good governance is lost on our rulers is not understandable.

