Guilt, Conscience or Career?

Lately, I have been thinking of some dilemmas our beaureucratic officials/civil servants/army officials have to go through, in their long careers.

1) Early in their careers, bureaucratic officials are sort of, compelled, and forced to do some nasty work, which hurts the country. How? Well, for an example, when the politician or a senior or your minister, asks you to do something, such as authorizing a cheque on behalf of the ministry/gvt, with malified intent, with corrupt purposes, then the officer is forced to do it. This is because, if he/she does not, then they ruin their careers. They get posted to some places, which no one has heard of, where only the worst officers are posted, their ACR's are ruined, and so on. They are 'officially' harassed. Some people do challenge such schemes and orders. And i have seen their careers ruined, because they wanted to act with integrity.

But there are people, who do accept such commands and orders. Though they are honest, and not corrupt, they still do it, to save their careers from such wrath. Though such steps do bug their conscience, but they say that they are forced, and not have an option. (I have examples, where officers were forced to take such commands, although they had never, and they would never embezzle state money. They do it, to keep their career intact). What should the officer do here? And importantly, why?


2) Then there is another sort. People who later on in their careers, are forced to take up positions, against their wish. These can be controversial positions. But they accept them so as to avoid that very wrath, as mentioned above. To give an example, I know of someone, who was amongst those, who were closest to Zia ul Haq. He was a part of Zia’s close team. But the irony is that, he was never a supporter of Zia. But he was offered to be a part of his team. Now to him, he had to options: a) to reject that offer, and be superseded, long and hard career ruined, which had been built of personal and family cost. In short, his career, though decorated with awards and medals, would have been thrown in the bin. And to top it all, his promotion to the rank of a general was in two weeks. So rejecting the offer would mean, rejecting something he had sort of worked for 30 years. The other option :b) was to accept this position with that bastard, and be promoted as deserved, and continue the career. Well, he took the second option. For reasons as to save his career from being ruined.

Another example is a posting of our relative in a very controversial position, in public eye. I will not name him, because he is actually in that position right now. He has been serving the state, for the last 30 years as well. I know for a fact, that how honest he is. Infact, how god fearing he is, and how straight forward he is. When he was offered that position, he expressed reservation. But, believe it or not, he was told directly, that he should start thinking of his future then. He accepted that appointment. The point is, that in these cases, controversial gvts, have posted good people in good posts, and importantly, in good faith. However, even though they were appointed in good faith, they were expected to do some controversial work. What should the officer(s) do here? And again, why?


3) Then there is a strange category. People, who worked hard all their life for their careers, with integrity and honesty. They were then appointed to such positions, as mentioned in the above point. But once appointed, they lost everything. They lost the ethics, integrity, with which they had built careers. They were not corrupted in financial terms, but morally they were completely corrupted. An example is another person, who was one of the main guys, to plan and implement the controversial NRO. I know for a fact, that he was one of the most honest officers I had come across in my life. To cite an example, he once even stopped a politician from embezzling 10 million USD of Pakistani state money. This money was supposed to go to some international organisation for the service provided. However a senior politician, in office, asked the money to be transferred to his account, so that he himself could pay them off. Obviously, that was an evil plan by the politician. However, he (the officer), lingered around, and did not do it, because he was aware of the intentions behind that scheme. In short, 10million USD was saved. That officer later went on, to have a great career, and rendered great services to the state. He then went on to become one of the very fine assets of Pakistan, and played an important role in over hauling Pakistani banking/financial system. One of the most powerful and sought after positions in the land. After 4 years of honest service, he was offered another position. But this time around, he was offered a controversial position, by a controversial leader. He took that position, for various reasons. a) To save his career. b) The position was such, where he could actually make a difference in the country. More difference, then he could previously. Once in that role, he did some great things for the state. The position was one of the most lucrative in the country. But he worked with honesty. BUT, then, he became a part of something, which is, arguably, the biggest scandal in Pakistani politics/history. Both in terms of morals, and money. He became a part of it. As facilitator. As implementator. And so on. But the strange thing he, he STILL did not embezzle a single penny. His record is clean, with that respect. Why did he do it? If the explanation is that power corrupts, then it is wrong. He had seen power before; he had been in power for long. That is NOT what corrupted him morally.

So what should the officers do here, in these circumstances? Circumstances, in which they have to decide their future, in which they have to choose between guilt, conscience and their future/careers. What makes some honest people, who had spent 35 years of their lives with integrity, commit such acts, by virtue of which they will never be remembered by history in good words. And if they have to choose conscience over their careers/future, then why should they? Will they be remembered to have taken such a brave step, so as to ruin what they were building their lives on? What flaws exactly are their in the system, which ‘forces’ them to opt for such options? What makes honest people, to choose these options? How can we overcome these obstacles? What can be done to provide them with security? After all, these are the very people, who actually run the state. These people are the brains of the country. This, one of the most important institutions in the country, assigned with administration and governance of the state, remains neglected, and targeted.

And these are the questions, to which I am looking for answers.