Monitor on Quality of Governance | August 2015

new monitoring and evaluation initiative, which aims to ensure greater transparency

and accountability in delivery of basic services by the Government. The District

Performance Monitoring System is designed to evaluate the performance of District

Administration by using more than 50 key performance indicators. PILDAT was

informed of KP’s new performance monitoring cell in a recent meeting with

(PFA) raids, staging a rally in their milk trucks from Thokar Naiz Baig to Punjab

drives undertaken by the Punjab Food Authority (PFA), there has been outcry

by milk traders in Punjab, criticizing the Punjab Government for stopping their

containers at entry and exit points, allegedly, leading to wastage of their

products and affecting their businesses. According to the PFA Act 2011, Officials

are bound by law to discard milk or any other products or seal outlets after

of regulatory authorities, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA)

issued new guidelines; formally known as the Code of Conduct 2015. These new

amendments to the PEMRA rules are to replace the existing code of conduct for

broadcast media outlets have been instructed to bar hate speech from their programmes.

² This includes

a wide range of material that cannot be aired now. These restrictions may even

be termed as encroachment on freedom of speech but much will depend upon the

mechanism of enforcement. If the mechanism is fair, objective and independent

of partisan considerations, it may be regarded a positive step. Any subjective

7, 2015, in response to a petitioned filed earlier this year, ordered a complete

ban on Mr. Altaf Hussain’s images and speech broadcast until final verdict

of treason allegations was announced. This petition called for a lifelong ban

on live broadcast of Mr. Altaf Hussain’s speeches, and maintained that

he was in violation of Article 5 of the constitution, which asks for showing

loyalty to the state and obedience to the constitution. The petition argued

that a case of treason could be registered against the MQM Chief under Article

report on the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) listing 40

officials who have been involved in issuance of fake national identity cards,

presents a dismal picture of such a sensitive agency as NADRA and reflects poorly

on the supervisory and oversight mechanisms in place in the Ministry of Interior

that oversees NADRA. ISI investigations also discovered that the NADRA registration

centre in the Keamari area of Karachi had sold CNICs to Afghan and Bengali nationals

for Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 each. ⁴ Despite the fact that a departmental inquiry has been ordered, this

state of affairs is extremely disappointing and is reflective of the corruption

and fraud rampant in State Institutions and lack of adequate accountability

20 billion that had been allocated to the Government for Pakistan’s Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs) and Community Development Programme, during the current

financial year, it is rather interesting to see that the entire amount has been

disbursed in 52 days; Rs 8.4 billion in July and Rs.12.6 billion in August 2015.

Monitor on Governance for June & July regarding these ‘eleventh-hour’

increases. This disbursement is not in line with the usual disbursement policy

framed by the Planning Commission; under which 20% of each of the allocated

funds are disbursed in the first two quarters (40 % till Dec 31), followed by

7, 2015 asked the incumbent Provincial and Federal Governments to submit the

record for budgetary allocations, which have been earmarked for low cost housing

for the dwellers of Katchi Abadis from 2001 to 2015.⁶ The Supreme Court (SC) is currently awaiting data from all five Governments

regarding shortage of housing facilities for low-income groups of the populace

and its disparity with the lands being used for upscale housing for the affluent.

For the time being, the SC’s interim order of restraining the Capital

Administration from taking any adverse action, issued on August 26, 2015 will

on September 5, 2015, which calls for promulgation and enactment of proper legislation

for Katchi Abadis at the Federal level, similar to statutes in place,

Team (JIT)⁸ has

been constituted in the Provincial Capital for extraordinary coordination among

the Rangers, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigative

Agency (FIA) with the aim to tighten the noose around corruption related to

have been accused of stepping outside their domain¹⁰.¹¹ Several

people who are accused of corruption charges like the Chairman of Sindh Higher

Education Commission, Dr. Asim Hussain have been apprehended by the Rangers

during the Karachi Operation, under the 2013 amendment to the Anti Terrorism

Act 1997. The law is titled Section 11EEEE, and empowers the Rangers to apprehend

anyone and hold them for 90 days provided certain conditions are met.

should focus on building Police capacity and decide on a clear cut off date

for the Rangers Operation, so that control can be handed over to the Police

Authorities for a sustained long-term anti-corruption drive. In addition to

the capacity, both Police and the Anti Corruption Department need to be given

in Sindh, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Senior Vice President Senator

Sherry Rehman has refuted allegations of terror funding and requested transparent

probing in the warrants issued for senior PPP leaders Yousuf Raza Gilani and

efforts, PILDAT also notes that the Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE)

has lodged 72 FIRs, begun inquiries into 209 cases and arrested 52 officers

of different departments within two months on various charges of corruption

and embezzlement. According to the ACE chairman, a two-member committee has

been formed to probe into NAB and FIA inquiries; majority of which are related

country gain traction, KP observed some positive developments under the auspices

of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) KP, which arrested 4 officials of

the Public Works Department on the charge of Rs 190 million embezzlement in

Upper Dir development funds.¹⁵ This and other such corruption cases are reflective of ghost schemes, which

is a common phenomenon in Pakistan. In most cases complete payments are often

made to contractors however physical inspection often reveals that these projects

are only on paper. PILDAT lauds the NAB activism and recent anti-corruption

efforts of the KP Government at the provincial level and also takes note of

the recent bill tabled in the Provincial Assembly to amend the KP Ehtesab Commission

Act (KPECA), which proposes, more stringent rules and regulations related to

bail of persons accused of offence under this Act. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab

Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2015, seeks to enforce several changes to the existing

trafficking in Pakistan, which is likely to place Pakistan on the ‘Tier-3

Watch List’¹⁷. The Human Trafficking Report issued by the US Department of State revealed

that the most-wanted human traffickers in Pakistan have jumped from 78 to 95.

the provinces of the dramatic increase in the number of cases of bonded labor,

slavery, prostitution, domestic servitude and child labor. A commission was

formed to visit Torkham and Chaman borders and requested to submit a report

on the security situation and immigration process at the visit sites. PILDAT

commends the formation of this commission intended to probe into reasons for

weakness of policing and its oversight by the supervisory tiers of the Local

and Provincial Governments. A Joint Investigation Team (JIT) ¹⁹ has been formed by the Punjab Government to probe in to this child abuse

and extortion scandal in the Hussain Khanwala Village in the Kasur Dsitrict.

Media reports reveal that around 400 videos were made of 280 victims over the

past 10 years by an organized gang of over 25 people. Parliament’s upper

house, the Senate has passed a unanimous resolution condemning the abuse and

demanding exemplary punishments for the culprits. Six suspects have been arrested

Appeal (ICA) against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) decision to set

aside promotions of over 300 civil servants on August 28, 2015. These promotions

were recommended by the Central Selection Board (CSB), in May 2015. Justice

Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the IHC had set aside these promotions on July 27,

2015 and directed the Government to revise its promotion criteria and reconsider

promotion of Officers whose names had been overlooked in the CSB Meeting.²⁰ This comes in the aftermath of the recently introduced formula that allows

the CSB to award 15% marks and set 85% marks for the performance of the officer.²¹ IHC heard petitions of several bureaucrats against the recommendations

of the CSB. The petitioners maintained that the promotion decisions had disregarded

merit and hand picked individuals by exploiting the 15 discretionary marks to

be awarded by the CSB, thereby creating an overriding effect which led to exclusion

of Officers who had objectively received more than 75 marks based on their service

that were scheduled to take place in Delhi on August 23, 2015 had to be abandoned

after serious differences arose over the agenda of the talks. Indian position

was that the NSA-level talks were agreed to discuss security-related or more

specifically terrorism-related issues. Pakistan wanted an expanded agenda with

Kashmi