The anti-smuggling threats of Gen. Asim Munir, due to which the Pak-Afghan border remains presently closed, will remain empty threats unless there are officers like the deadly duo in the picture entrenched in the field. Incidentally, both are known to me as dear friends.
On the left is Honourable Karam Elahi, Collector Customs, Dera Ismail Khan, and on the right is Honourable Nisar Mehmood Satti, the incumbent Deputy Inspector General of KP Police posted at D.I. Khan. Both are extremely humble and hardworking souls who follow both their conscience and the book in the line of duty, rare characteristics to find in the present Pakistani bureaucratic culture, where everyone works either at buttering the bread of their political patrons or for themselves and their own clan of the corrupt.
Karam Elahi paid the price for his professional honesty and was nearly killed when kidnapped along with my dear schoolmate Sadiq Akbar when they tried to computerize the customs clearance at Torkhum. It was their good luck, noble deeds, and the lesser efforts of their own parent department that resulted in their safe return to their families, who today would have been orphaned the way Pakistan as a state is due to lack of honest people serving her interests honestly .
The other gentleman is Nisar Mehmood Satti, whom I met for the very first time when he was DIG Swat. I found him a well-read person and a professional to the core who believed in following the rule of law for maintaining peace in Swat.
As luck would have it, both of them got transferred to D.I. Khan as a side appointment, and look at what the duo did by destroying the most preferred smuggling route. This is one small factor of the dollar dwindling downward movements against Pak Rupee because the smugglers believed the state meant serious business this time around. They made history through this highest-ever haul in the history of their respective organizations.
There is too much to celebrate and talk about in this latest joint police-customs anti-smuggling action in Dera Ismail Khan. It will not only save billions worth of US dollars loss to the national exchequer in the future, serving as a deterrent to the smugglers, but also earned millions of dollars through this seizure of containers that contained anything and everything in everyday demand, from yeast to black tea to tires, clothes, and Iranian fuel.
While I congratulate the two as my personal friends, I expect the society and their respective departments to give them a pat on the back when I have put forth my own selfish demand of dry fruits to be sent to me by my humble and self-made friend Karam Elahi from his own pocket. His pocket mostly remains empty, but my reward for writing about their laurels while munching dry fruits will surely put a smile on his face through this post that will come as a surprise to him. Long Live Pakistan And The Few Honest Who Run It 🇵🇰
