PAKISTAN POST OFFICE – A
DEPARTMENT PAKISTANIS STILL
CAN PROUDLY COMPARE
10 July 2004
I twice addressed this of mine to our dailies called serious newspapers namely DAWN, The News, Statesman, Nation, Pak-Tribune including Jang Internet Edition in which the actually letter in reply appeared but none published. Since my comments were not against Pakistan or critical to Pakistan hence these could not get space. Only Weekly Tribune International which is published from Australia published it. They published is surely knowing the practical comparison as administrators of Tribune International live abroad.
Brother Shafiq Khan long living in Canada through his letter to Daily Jang internet edition has used whatever words he could remember against Pakistan Post Office. He says he sent in the past gifts to friends in Pakistan which did not reach. He is particularly angry over a parcel which was sent to him from Hyderabad. Since he was not available at his address, the Canadian authorities sent this parcel back to Pakistan which in about a month did not reach back to Hyderabad and he feels it has been stolen or pilfriged by Pakistan Post Office staff.
We the Pakistanis are very beautiful and nice people. But most unfortunate is we let no chance left comparing Pakistan with other countries through black jaundice eye glasses. For most of us who by any luck had a chance to once go abroad everything abroad is a glitter. We praise foreign traditions, people, customs, services out of proportion and have no independent judicious honesty to compare.
I have lived abroad in different countries for about 20 years mostly in middle east countries. During all this period I must have read at least more than 500 complaints appearing in press complaining about theft, loss of parcel or an item form it and at the end blaming Postman in Pakistan. I have never ever seen even a single mention where such a Pakistani has same time put a little blame on post office of the concerned foreign country. Brother Shafiq has taken it as guaranteed that items lost and pilfreged are at Pakistan Post Office. Why it cannot be at Canadian Post Office?. Is Canadian post office being manned by some super angles and staff working there is all angels?
I myself or none of my family has ever worked in Post Office directly or indirectly but I do posses a considerable knowledge about postal system. Once a supreme court level judge in his Decision in a matter raised before him wrote about me that I had a vast knowledge about working of Post Office.
As with law & order, economy, the performance of all our Departments and institutions has no doubt also deteriorated. But as brother Shafiq claims he sends mails to different part of world, like him I also deal with different departments one way or the other and it is my firm belief that Pakistan Post Office and Sui Southern Gas Company Karachi are our two best departments in Pakistan on performance of which we the Pakistani should still be proud of.
No doubt our Post Office does not have big buildings, no air conditions, have old candle system to vax seal the items, no NCR papers but carbon , yet it has excellent performance compared to foreign postal system. But this only a true honest eye can see. Our town post office called a Sub Post Office comprises one Upper Division Clerk as Asstt. Sub Postmaster, one clerk and one packer. These three men have only two 30 years old chairs and one wooden stool to sit. Post Office comprises one single rented room with one 40 Wt bulb and one trembling fan. This team deals with sale of postal stationery, registries, parcels, driving licences, arms licences, food stamps, insurance premium, money order, identity card forms, savings bank and so on. Payment of utility bills is being included. I would not be surprised within the next a year or two if distribution of zakat, issuance of monthly railway passes, cinema advance booking, payment of excise custom duty also is not assigned to this Post Office. What is in foreign countries? Large spacious building with automated office equipment is called a post office where one man deals only one service. One selling the postage stamps would not even touch booking of a parcel. In as much as in some middle east countries Registration Receipt is filled in by sender himself to avoid pain in the neck of registration clerk. Our postman brings our home 10 kgs parcel. Can brother Shafiq imagines this even in his dream in Canada? Brother Shafiq will take leave from his office to collect it from post office. Brother Shafiq and I living in Canada can not think of standing out of queue and affixing postage stamps except at top front left hand side of envelope. In Pakistan both me and brother Shafiq feel it our “freedom and human right” to freely affix postage stamp anywhere on back or on bottom of the envelope not realizing it creates problem to post office. It is similar as flying from Pakistan to abroad both me and brother Shafiq do not get up from plane seats unless its comes to stand still but when it lands at Karachi/Islamabad and still is a kilometer taxing towards terminal we stand up pulling our head luggage.
Loss and theft of mail is an international phenomena. The volume of articles each postal system today deals with makes it prone to these problems. No postal system of the world is free of it. People like Mr. Shafiq feel postal system of western world most efficient. From amongst hundreds I give one example. I lived in Bahrain for 5 years. As there was only post box system for mail I had my own personal post box there. Its number was ABCD (fake). Letters posted from the world’s top postal system United Kingdom addressed to post Office ABCD or House No. ABCD at Bali, Bhutan, Buunei, Bremuda, Bahamas or Beirut used to be lying in my Bahrain Post Box ABCD. This was the efficiency of both England and Bahrain postal system high modernized with machines. A bank in Karachi had to pay me Rs. 60/- which to avoid some embarrassment it was facing, it sent me in Bahrain through a world’s top treated courier service by spending more than Rs. 800/-. It never reached me. When I told the Bank it sent me a fresh pay order under my advice through Pakistan Post Office paying Rs. 15 or 19 as postage. It reached me 4th day.
According to Brother Shafiq the parcel reached Canada in 9 days. Judge the mentality of the complainant that he does not has a word of praise for Hyderabad-Pakistan Post Office who showed its efficiency that immediately it sent to Karachi and from their to Canada. He is totally silent on it. But is crying over Pakistan Post about non return of parcel in a month. How has he taken it as guaranteed that Canadian post office might not have sent it back so far. Brother Shafiq before crying over Pakistan Post Office should know that under universal postal agreement the returned undelivered parcels are not returned by airmail but by Surface/Sea Mail which can take 2-3 months.
It is the kindness of Pakistan Post Office that it has received and replied the complaint of brother Shafiq. Brother Shafiq has no locus standi to file a complaint because as per universal procedure it is his relative in Hyderabad who is sender and booked the parcel who can make such a complaint.
Yes I agree that items more particularly cash during Eid days is stolen from overseas incoming mail. But I know this is not done by Pakistan Post Office. It is done by a special department who takes all such mail in the name of censorship where these are opened. The bad name goes to post office. Remember when Benazir was PM her personal mail was alike opened by this department. A lot of influence is used to get oneself posted there. In this age where a whole data can be copied in a small floppy mail censor speaks in itself. In the past I had raised this issue which was going in favour of Pakistan Post Office but unfortunately postal authorities did not support me.
Last but not the least the most unfortunate and regrettable is that like brother Shafiq our national dailies like DAWN, The News, Jang, Nation, Kyhybermail etc have no space for thoughts like me which I many a times in the past addressed these papers seeing similar complains. I am sure had I wrote against our post office or anything critical it would had definitely got space.
Pakistan Post Office staff is not from another God. It comprises of staff which is from amongst we the general society, comprises our brothers sisters fathers etc. So why to expect extraordinarily exceptional form postal staff where as they are from amongst us? If we are corrupt why cannot they be? If for coming to my office I can sit breaking the law into women compartment of the mini bus why cannot a postal staff leave his seat a hour earlier?
At the end brother Shafiq says he damn cares about the parcel, it comes back to him or not but he is more frustrated about the “mentality of Pakistani nation” for this dishonesty. Shafiq is a Pakistani, he went on Pakistani Passport as a Pakistani citizen to Canada and shamefully criticise the mentality of Pakistani nation whereas he and his forefathers had been the part of this nation.