A COUPLE of phrases in Urdu aptly sum up Pakistan`s entire governance model. The first is `file ko wheels lagana` (attaching wheels to a file), which implies the greasing of palms in order to get things done in a government department.

The second is `file ka pait bharna`, which implies stuffing a file with relevant and irrelevant details so that the matter under the spotlight turns ambiguous and thus it becomes difficult to find the proverbial devil in the details in this case, approving the proposal is found to be the only option.

Not many who are known as the `competent authority` are in the habit of reading more than a few pages sometimes just a few lines of a case that is put up to them for approval.

At best, our most well-read bureaucrats might be mindful of things that are reported by an investigative journalist or an op-ed writer who takes pains to weave a story out of a news item, and then analyses it.

So, the stuffing of files almost always gives the impression of a pressing need for approval, while the reality is that the `justifications` that are provided for most plans that many civil servants make to apparently maximise personal benefits using government funds are more often than not `fiction`.

A recent example is the plan to purchase vehicles worth billions of rupees by the Federal Board of Revenue. The plan was leaked to social media, which led a Senate standing committee to demand justification from the FBR for such an exorbitant spending spree.

The latest in the matter is that the process has been halted till a probe into the justification of the demand and transparency of the process is completed; one can rightly ask if the process has been halted to `stuff the file`, and to get approval as soon as the dust settles.

The justification provided by the FBR chief before the Senate committee that the vehicles are necessary to identify nonfilers by visiting markets across the country appears flimsy. If the plan is to catch tax evaders by sitting around in shops and observing the number of glasses the lassi wallah sells every morning, then I am not very hopeful.

This brings us to another useless plan to curb corruption. This time the organisation behind the plan is an international one the IMF.

To fulfil the conditions set by the Fund, the government has recently amended the Civil Servants Act, making it mandatory for civil servants to declare their assets and to make these details public.Perhaps the IMF does not know that in Pakistan you can find frontmen a dime a dozen to provide legal cover to ill-gotten wealth. Civil servants do not need to keep assets in their own name and the wealth that is stashed abroad by some does not even count. It should be simple to figure out that not coming clear about your assets is a lot easier for an individual who has already sold his conscience.

It is pertinent to point out that any international organisation would be living in a fool`s paradise if it believed that it can achieve through legislation what internal intelligence organisations have failed to achieve, despite their unchecked authority and innumerable resources.

Would the IMF demand prove an exercise in futility? This brings us to the recent remarks made by an apex court judge while hearing the petition of a civil servant, who was denied promotion due to unsatisfactory reports by the intelligence agencies that said, `He is financially corrupt and in-volved in corrupt practices. He is shrewed [sic] person who can`t handle pressures`, and `the officer does not carryfair reputation vis-à-vis financial integrity`, without giving further details. The judge pointed out that the allegation was neither substantiated hv anyproof or further details, and was critical of the causal format of the intelligence reports.

It is true that reports by intelligence agencies can be arbitrary. I do agree that they can be misused and many readers would also support this observation, given the disdain we have heaped upon the intelligence apparatus.

However, one can also play the devil`s advocate and ask if any reader can produce a receipt of the bribe they paid to get an electric meter or a gas meter connection or any other seemingly trivial matter? Another question is whether intel agencies should be allowed to run sting operations on civil servants to collect evidence.

That would open another Pandora`s box.

They say change is eternal; in Pakistan we say corruption is eternal and is surely here to stay. So, let`s just stuff the files and live in style. • The wúter is a former civil servant.

syedsaadatwrites@gmail.com X: @SyedSaadat55