East India Company Executives
The most coveted slots in the job market for a long time were those of foreign companies working in Pakistan, these were in banks, oil companies, pharmaceutical industry, etc. The companies paid well and had a wide range of both visible and hidden perquisites (perks), their training whether in management or botanical folds was in keeping with international standards, they gave an opportunity for travel and posting abroad and lastly, in a society very sensitive to status, they put the individual into a class apart, indeed giving him a choice of elite clubs in the pay package as a status symbol. There were not so many jobs on offer 40-50 years ago, the competition for every slot was very fierce, the job opening depending not only on merit but the clout the family had. In contrast our young men and women now have greater choice, both at home and abroad. Corporate Pakistan really came into being with the advent of PIA as an international airline par excellence under Air Marshal Nur Khan. Local companies in business and industry gradually began to come good with respect to job satisfaction when compared with foreign entities. Taking the early 60s as the base-line, the most sought after jobs in order of priority were with foreign companies, the civil service, PIA, the Armed Forces and then in the medical and engineering professions. The litmus test for job priority preference is that a large number of doctors and engineers opt to become civil servants, but many young civil servants have opted over the years to become executives in foreign financial institutions or other companies.
Casting aspersion on their merit in a sweeping manner would be unfair, but a fair percentage of the young people who managed to get the few slots available in foreign commercial entities in the early days of Pakistan and uptil the mid-60s were mostly sons of serving civil servants or influential landlords, etc. In these days slots for siblings of military officers were rarely available. Since the foreign companies needed to shore up their influence by having such people on their payrolls who had ready access to people with influence, and those who had influence needed their siblings in very lucrative jobs, this was a mutually acceptable proposition, it does not need much imagination to conclude that both sides got a good bargain. Unfortunately this mutual satisfaction came at a high price, influence was used to gain maximum advantage for the foreign entities at the cost of the country. By this time PIA became the jewel in the crown, it took over 20 years of nepotism to turn a merit-oriented airline into a disaster waiting to happen. By the 70s jobs multiplied, more and more deserving young men (and an occasional woman) found employment with foreign and local corporate entities. Merit over nepotism became recognized as necessary for selection, the market competition became very fierce, these companies needed good executives to work efficiently and competently, both in the domestic and international field. The requirement of hiring only those with potential for influence pre-employment faded but those who had got jobs on merit having also influence post-employment became an additional qualification. A rash of young men and women became very much visible on the social circuit. Many had studied in colleges and universities abroad and are now paid handsomely to work for their foreign masters locally in Pakistan. By the 80s a new generation of Pakistanis, more self-confident, assertive and belonging to a wide spectrum of society started to be selective about their jobs, whether with local and foreign companies. With local companies run much more professionally in keeping with international standards, provided the money is right, there is now an inflow from foreign companies to Pakistani entities.
World bank and the Corruption Stakes
President James Wolfensohn is visiting Pakistan, his mission is to evaluate personally the whole gamut of Pakistan’s economic situation as well as examine WB assistance and cooperation in the health, education and other sectors.
In a recent report WB has noted with satisfaction the progress made in Pakistan’s power sector “where private investment of $5 billion has been committed.” On the other hand, the report simultaneously identifies areas of corruption, inefficiency, bureaucracy and politicization, with the Government and public sector organizations as the major hurdles. While James Wolfensohn is a welcome activist against corruption, the question one would like to ask is what has been the role of World Bank in the recent past in this regard? Or to be put more bluntly, have they effectively played a somewhat similar role as have the Pakistani functionaries engaged in lining their pockets or even being supportive of the acts of some of the so-called investors/contractors?