Pride of Performance

Majority of the Pakistani public are deprived of pride of performance. Feudalism has eroded the spirits of performing duties gleefully and punctually. Class-conscious feudal mentality, which detests working, has permeated from crown to foot in all the institutions of the state. Therefore, mainstream of the people, especially in the government sector, consider working irksome and a load instead of duty. They escape from liabilities while harvesting maximum fruits by using their influence.

The government officials gladly spend their lavish time in hatching conspiracies against their colleagues and blowing their wads in arranging bean feasts for the big cheeses to appease them to get their undue favor in promotion and transfer matters. The bureaucrats have trammeled themselves to sign files, most of the times without reading and understanding. Due to this unending hibernating approach of keeping things ticking over at a snail’s pace, the bureaucratic red tape has been hampering the tempo of the country’s progress at a rapid pace.

The habit of idleness has been ruining the sense of fortitude in the lazy-bones. It is acting as blight in our society by generating vicious ideas in the minds of its victims. Therefore, it is rightly said that an idle mind is the devil’s workshop. Most of the unemployed youth are moving from pillar to post in search of jobs. When the literate people do not get employment on merit after tramping the streets or fail to qualify a competitive examination, they greatly frustrated. They become evil geniuses and indulge in unlawful activities. Therefore, the whole nation is bearing the brunt of rising tide of crimes. Those who expect from such tore apart people taut with anger and victimized by partiality and prejudice, to do any constructive work are living in a fool’s paradise.

The hotshot policy makers are perpetually slaughtering meritocracy. About 11,000 candidates appeared in the PMS examination conducted in Nov-Dec 2006.Almost all the question papers were trickled out for those born in the purple before the written test. Due to frequent leaking out of papers the reputation of PPSC is in tatters. It announced 232 vacancies while it telescoped only a throng of 144 candidates, who passed the theory of this cutthroat competitive assessment. Despite the availability of additional vacancies, even some candidates who qualified all the papers but failed to touch the aggregate of 300 by only trifle marks could not fall in the category of triumphant ones.

On this gross social injustice neither the building of the Supreme Court trembled nor its powerful pen swished to take sou motto notice to declare the unfair examination null and void. Neither the earth would rupture apart nor the heaven would fall if the pertinent authorities would re-conduct the examination transparently by learning from their previous mistakes. The authorities provided a wooly argument to cover the wide loopholes in the exam conducting body that the tuition academies guessed the question papers. What a 100% guess in which there was not a difference of comma from the original question papers?

This bias has breed a strong faith in the public to pull off victory by hook or by crook. Is it possible for the bimbos, who accomplish success by using under the table means, to perform their duties fervently and honestly? They remain ensnared by their aspirations to retrieve their money after joining the post, which they lavishly paid to get the question papers before the commencement of the examination? The thwarted queer baits suffering from the exasperation of mounting tension of letdown in their carrier, which is considered stigma in our feudal society, fail to carry out their national duties faithfully in any other arena.

This disgusting social discrimination of favoring the inept children of the cream of the crop, already having an edge over the unfortunate ones, in all walks of life has tore the nation apart into social categories on the basis of wealth and power. The well heeled pooh bah and those skating on their uppers never informally encounters each other throughout their lives to understand their mutual problems. Is it feasible for cashed up high monkey-monks traveling in high-toned luxurious Mercedes and BMWs, and residing in spectacular Bungalows to understand the tribulations of those not having a pot to pee in?

Bertrand Russell in his masterpiece “The Conquest of Happiness” said, “Success is only one ingredient for happiness but it is too dearly purchased.” It is truly said that those who achieve their goal lose their enthusiasm to perform further duties. Success in terms of material resources has become the sole criteria of respect and aim of life in our capitalistic inspired society. Therefore, every thing has been stapled with pecuniary means. Even education without productivity is considered futile. The present man has reduced himself to physical being while totally neglecting his spiritual aspect. Moral values and ethical principles are indispensable to work passionately and considerately with a unitary approach by imbibing high spirit of fraternity and nationalism, but ironically these values have been thrown to the backburner.

Currently, there is crying need of taxing the brains of the nation’s experts to give philosophical resolution of the current intricate concerns. Ironically, intellectuals, deprived of power, pelf and plenty are not respected in our feudalistic and materialistic society. Therefore, they switch off taking profound interest in cerebral works like research. Talent of the geniuses, not possessing sufficient means of livelihood, went down the drain. Thomas Decker an English dramatist in his magnum opus “Old Fortune” sarcastically said which reflects the true picture of our modern-day culture:

“A wise man poor
Is like a sacred book that’s never read,
To himself he lives, and to all else seems dead.
This age thinks better of a gilded fool
Than of a threadbare saint in wisdom’s school.”

Little pay is a major bottleneck due to which people escape from performing their duties devotedly. The Motor Police also belong to Pakistan. But in this institution, located in one of the most corrupt countries of the world, there are rare cases of sleaze due to blubbery payment and fat perks and privileges granted to the officials. Similarly, people work contentedly in the private sectors offering well-blubbed salary.

Accountability is essential to maintain check and balance whether the people are performing their duties punctually and earnestly. In the public sector answerability is just eyewash. The men on a good wicket use accountability institutions as gears to bully political opponents. In the private sector if anyone dare to turn a blind eye towards his duties, the owners sack him to fill the vacancy with a new employee. Therefore, people crave to join government sector because one can enjoy maximum French leave and perform bare minimum work without answering to anyone. The baggage smashers can easily escape the ire and wrath of the headliners by flattery and fuzzy excuses.

Uniform also plays key role in performing one’s duties with a sense of commitment by inculcating conscientiousness and pride. The government has recently inducted a large number of traffic wardens to avert traffic menace to ensure its streamline flow. Initially, when these wardens were performing their duties in traditional police uniform, which have become a symbol of corruption in Pakistan, they complained that the travelers mockingly call them “Chhillars” and “Thullas”. This generated nuisance in these newly recruited officers and everyone could observe marks of woe on their faces. They became sedentary within a few weeks after joining their duty. But, now, in their promised beautiful navy blue uniform everyone can see them alert. They must also be empowered like the Motor Police to fine indiscriminately the transgressors of the traffic rules.

Job security is compulsory to make certain that people would perform their duties with a sense of involvement. Medical profession has always been one of the most deserted vocations like the education sector in our country. Most of the House Officers and Medical Officers are working in the government hospitals on honorary basis and only few are getting nominal salaries when the prices of commodities are skyrocketing. There is no recruitment since mid-1990s through FPSC. Even the jobs created by the current regime are on contractual basis. Can we expect from such non-paid or low-paid doctors facing non-availability or insecurity of job to treat their patients with a sense of total commitment?

Pride of performance takes its birth from the lap of patriotism. Therefore, copious beans of patriotic sentiments are mandatory to stimulate the civil sector to ensure their momentous contribution in all avenues of national life. But, mordantly, patriotism has been deliberately crushed in Pakistan by the vested interests. Nations possessing high patriotic spirits are ruling the roost in the world while the rest of them deprived of nationalism have no say in the international affairs.

The developed countries made progress at a jogging pace because their public draw pleasure by performance their national duties. Paradoxically, Pakistani unemployed youth avoid joining a job or initiating a business, which is considered menial in our feudal society. Disparagingly, when golden opportunities smile on these people to emigrate to developed countries they work there happily on a store, hotel, and some earn cash by giving bathe to pet dogs of the flushed people, which they cannot even imagine in their native country.

Contrary to the developed nations, in our country egocentric interests are given preference over national interests, caste inclinations dominate patriotic fraternity, regional languages overshadow national language, sect is more enthusiastically publicized than Islam, short-sighted regional leaders gave an edge to provincialism over federalism, and ethnicity is considered superior to nationalism. Is it possible for such a splintered populace to emerge as a strong unit in the comity of nations? Can such a widely separated community come to a single point through consensus to resolve twiddly national issues, which is obligatory to making progress? Internally we are at odds and externally we are out of joint.

Human are the treasure of any nation. Therefore, there is crying need of human resource development to give bounce to national economy. Public can put in substantially in state’s prosperity to make gigantic strides. It is the public, which can change the fate of our country. Media should launch an unprecedented campaign to indoctrinate pride of performance with towering national spirit. Our cheap skate leaders should also learn to sacrifice personal preoccupations over national imperatives. Everyone should perform his duties sincerely and ardently instead of taxing each other with avoiding responsibilities; otherwise we cannot make any headway in the welter of contemporary melting pot.