Dealing with a Not So Civil Servant

www.pakpositive.com I was directed by my office to travel to Philippines for urgent Business meetings. Philippines consulate told me that a Character Certificate from Local Police was required for obtaining a Business Visa.

I applied for one at my local Police Station and was informed by them on Jan-25 that the process was complete from there end and my application was sitting at DIG Central�s desk for final signature. Office Manager at DIG office informed me that DIG left early without signing the correspondence for that day and he will sign them first thing tomorrow morning.

Next morning I was told that DIG has not yet arrived, he finally arrived at around 12:45. I waited there till 2:00 pm but was told that the application was still sitting on his desk. I send my visiting card to DIG central, asking if I can see him.

After sometime he invited me and several other citizens waiting to see him into his office. He asked me about my concern and I requested him to sign my clearance certificate sitting on his desk. His simple response was, "go sit outside". As I stood up to walk out, I asked him when he thinks it will be signed. This is where he got mad and told me that, "I would not sign it today as I was asking him for a target and he does not take targets from any one".

Having waited for several hours outside his office I was very disappointed at this answer and inquired about what was wrong in my asking about when my application would be signed. His response was even more absurd then before, stating that "I will not sign it at all now and you can complain to whoever you want". He directed one of his men to escort me out of the office. Next day I get a call from my local PS that they DIG has returned my character certificate with one and a half page of direction for them to verify more things about me including verifying my degrees. Way to go Mr. DIG, you really showed me .

I am a technical professional supporting Asia and European region and as part of my responsibilities I travel frequently to destination outside of Pakistan. After working overseas for several years I had forced my company to transfer me to Pakistan even thought they had concerns about ease of travel out of Pakistan.

I always thought it was just obtaining Visa for other countries that would be a problem when applying from Pakistan but never realized that my own government will make things difficult for me but Inshallah a day will come when our civil servants will give up their colonial mindset of ruling and start serving us civilians instead. civil service www.pakpositive.com