A recent episode at the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) revealed many facets of present-day Pakistan. It showed what ails the country and how the situation was mishandled in this particular case by the political parties and other stakeholders only to expose their own shortcomings.

The crisis at Pesco began when its chief executive officer Brig (Retd) Tariq Saddozai, who earned praise for doing a good job during his term, was promoted and appointed the chairman of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) in December last year. The Pesco board of directors recommended a panel with three names of senior officers to the Federal Ministry of Water and Power for appointment as the company’s acting chief executive officer. They included Mian Musarrat Gul, who is Pesco’s chief commercial officer, the general manager finance Anwarul Haq Yousafzai and Nadeem Anwar, serving as chief operation officer.

However, the ministry ignored the board’s recommendation and made surprise appointment of Perveiz Akhtar Shah who was a Grade 19 officer serving as superintending engineer. This was reportedly done on the recommendation of a leading politician from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who is presently an ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

A comment reportedly made at this point of time by some members of the ruling elite was that they have to forget about merit and oblige the politician in question as his role was important in saving democracy. A more apt statement could be that the rulers needed to save their government as it was facing an onslaught from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) head Imran Khan and the Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) leader Tahirul Qadri who at the time were busy organising their protest campaign of ‘dharnas’ to oust the Prime Minister from power.

Perveiz Shah was junior than several other officers eligible for the job. His appointment upset the other aspirants for the office and provoked the Pesco employees to stage protests. The All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Workers Union, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is the collective bargaining agent at Pesco, locked down the company’s offices and held protest rallies in Peshawar and all over the province. Its chairman Gohar Taj maintained that Perveiz Shah had harmed Pesco in the past, was facing charges of misuse of powers, and was junior to many competent officers. Perveiz Shah reacted by taking disciplinary action against Gohar Taj and ordered that the Pesco vehicle in his possession should be taken back.

More importantly, the Pesco board of directors vehemently opposed Perveiz Shah’s appointment. It wrote a letter to the Minister of Water and Power Khwaja Mohammad Asif and Secretary, Water and Power, Yunis Dagha, containing a resolution that termed his appointment illegal and demanded that it be reversed. The resolution warned that the board of directors would take legal action if the order of his appointment wasn’t withdrawn within a week.

Perveiz Shah tried every trick to save his job. He portrayed the board of directors’ resolution as illegal. He obtained the support of one of the directors, Nasir Khan Musazai belonging to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), who claimed that five out of the eight directors had backed Perveiz Shah’s appointment. This wasn’t true as none of these directors publicly came out in support of Perveiz Shah.

In desperation, Perveiz Shah stepped up his media campaign to highlight his performance as the Pesco head. He paid visits to the Pesco circle in Hazara and other places and managed to meet with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak to gain legitimacy. He also obtained support of the Jamaat-i-Islami-linked Paigham Union, which due to its tussle with the All Pakistan Wapda Hydro Electric Union was willing to back anyone opposed by the latter.

However, Perveiz Shah’s efforts to keep his job weren’t making any impact. The Pesco workers had locked him out and he could only manage to attend his office on the weekend. Later, the workers refused to let him sit in his office even in the evenings.

Before long, the Nawaz Sharif government realised that it was earning a bad image by persisting with the controversial Perveiz Shah as the Pesco chief.  The pressure from the Pesco workers and its board of directors was mounting. Pesco’s working was affected due to the workers’ strike. The board of directors, headed by PML-N’s Malik Muhammad Asad Khan, had kept up the pressure on the Ministry of Water and Power to demand Perveiz Shah’s removal.

The turmoil at Pesco came to an end when the controversial Perveiz Shah was removed as its chief executive officer after a brief and tumultuous stint of 10 days and a senior officer Syed Hasan Fazil was appointed in his place.

Perveiz Shah’s troubles have increased since pushing his case to become the Pesco head. He brought himself into the limelight and is now paying the price for being over-ambitious. He was arrested on corruption charges and the court refused his bail plea. The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) subsequently claimed locating as many as 109 bank accounts in his name and that of his wife and children.

An analysis of the issue showed that making key appointments in important organistions on political basis instead of merit often creates problems for the rulers, more so if they claim to be running an administration based on fairplay and justice. Bypassing the board of directors and ignoring the workers’ wishes could also cause difficulties. The PML-N appointed a person who was already facing charges of corruption and misuse of power. Its choice was wrong and it had to beat a hasty retreat by removing him as the Pesco head.

Moreover, the board of directors of government, semi-government and autonomous organisations should have members who are technically qualified in their respective fields so that they could contribute to improving the organisation’s working. In Pakistan, the ruling parties sometimes appoint party activists to these boards to oblige them and maintain political control of all such organisations.