Pakistan Today

Tariq Jamil at FBR

Seriously?

That the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) had to involve the Tableeghi Jamaat to improve public service delivery is proof enough that it has lost hope of turning the official machinery around with traditional, more technical tools. And it was a pretty comprehensive exercise; the FBR issued an official communication from Islamabad a week ago, asking chief commissioners, chief collectors, and director generals to involve their subordinates in the lecture. It seems the FBR is counting on putting the fear of god in customs officials to steady the ship, or at least introduce a degree of ‘morality and ethics in public service delivery’.

Concern expressed by human rights groups is understandable. This is not, after all, the best time to flirt with increased religious incursion into state affairs. The FBR’s mandate is pretty straight forward, and quite technical, therefore, in the words of HRCP, it would have been better if technically qualified professionals were invited to deliver the lecture. Already the state is suffering from undue influence of religion in the official machinery. And it is not secret, especially a decade and a half into the war on terror, that a bulk of society is bent upon leveraging religion to subdue the state itself. It’s best, in such circumstances, if the government takes hold of the narrative and ensures religion is not used out of place.

And it’s not as if this was the first time the good maulana was invited to instill some Deobandi morality into the government machinery. Former Sindh Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim used to invite Jamil regularly to the CM house to address government secretaries and other high-ranking officials. How that turned out hardly needs any explanation. The government is advised to check such practices before they become too common. It’s not as if religion does not have a place in government functioning. But government officials unable to do their job must not be allowed to hide behind religious arguments. Next thing the Bureau will be asking for mass prayers to improve tax collection. By its actions, FBR is just proving that it is unable to do undertake its mandated assignment.

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