Pakistan refuses to reform its archaic bureaucratic processes. Ordinary citizens loaded with worthless photocopies, application forms and affidavits are made to visit, wait and bribe the peons in government offices to receive the most ordinary and mundane services. How does the 21st century Pakistan create misery in the lives of its ordinary citizens? Here is what a parent has to undergo to obtain a child’s transfer certificate (TC) when relocating from one government school to another.
Visit the old school and ask for the TC. You are asked to fill an application form and come again with the filled form along with photocopies of the child’s B-Form, birth certificate and father’s CNIC. Thus, a second visit is required to deposit the assembled documents.
You are now told to come after two or three days. The third visit for collection of the TC would invariably meet a standard response; “Please come again, as the school principal has not been available to sign the TC.” The individual seeking the certificate understands that any argument could only result in further delay. He obsequiously agrees to make a fourth visit after another two days. This time, he is told to wait, as the principal is busy. He waits for an hour or so till the TC is signed and handed over.
Four visits and bundles of irrelevant photocopies of documents already held by the government comprise the standard operating torture (SOT) for ordinary citizens to obtain routine government services. Pakistan ought to treat its citizens with respect, eliminate all visits to government offices and learn how the world has linked all government services to avoid endless submission of photocopies.
NAEEM SADIQ
KARACHI
