Assalam-o-alaikum All !

Here I am posting the experience of a Customs Officer (from the 33rd Common) in her own words:

1. Our STP started on May 2nd,06 and ended in Dec ‘06 followed by the FPOE,so it was almost 7 months long. However, we heard of certain batches in the past whose STP was even as short as 4 months.

2. During the STP, we studied :
a) The Customs Act 1969,
b) Sales Tax Act 1990,
c) Federal Excise Act 2005,
d) Allied Laws,
e) International Trade,
f) Public Economics, and
g) IT.
We just had some class tests and a proper mid-term exam. The marks of the mid term exam were added in the final result. In November, 06 we took our final exams.

3. My experience of STP was good but quite irritating at times...we were required to attempt the papers of Customs Act, Sales Tax Act n Federal excise without books; although law papers should ideally be open book exams because one tends to forget all the minute details n provisions etc.

4. The accommodation during STP was quite comfortable atleast for us because we could go in the kichen n cook whatever we liked. Also because our group just comprised of 13 officers out of which only 11 resided in the mess so we became just like one large family living together.

5. Well, the study tours were the best part of our STP. We went to the following places:
a) All customs offices in Karachi (including the ports n airports).
b) In baluchistan, Gwadar, Pasni, Jiwani,(Saw the iran/pak border with the customs check post there and the worlds largest shell in a jiwani museum).
c) Then we had a tour to NWFP where we visited Peshawar, pak-afghan border, and most interestingly the Khyber Rifles where we saw the room where Princess Diana had stayed and a show of the traditional dances. It was a memorable visit indeed.
d) Then in Punjab we visited all the Customs offices in Lahore, Thokar Niaz Baig’s dry port n
the part of the Wagah Border from where the trade between India and pakistan takes place. In Isb n Rwp we visited all the customs offices as well.
e) We also had to visit Quetta but had to cancel our visit due to the death of Nawab Bugti.

6. For two months after our classes of STP we were required to visit the different offices of Customs in khi for an on-job training. It gave us the opportunity to actually see how the customs officials work. We felt that it was a better learning experience than just going by the books.

7. Future prospects of our group seem quite alright because despite the tariff rationalization regimes and cut down in customs duties the importance of customs cannot be curtailed in any country’s economy. Now after the conversion of CBR into FBR, Customs officer’s pay packages shall improve and the whole department shall become more autonomous. Moreover, there are going to be more scholarships and capacity building courses/trainings abroard.
All we can do is to keep our fingers crossed cz the real picture will only become clear once we are in the field.

8. One particular thing I want to share about our dept is that it is full of some very dynamic officers who have a charisma about them. Specially some of the Collectors customs, whom we met during our on-job training, are very well read and efficient officers. They possess a loyalty towards the service and also towards the other Customs officers.
All I hope and pray is that may Allah bless all of us with love and loyalty towards our dear country and make us serve the nation in the best possible way...aamen!

9. After the STP, we are required to complete a one-year MBA(Tax Management) at the IBA, Karachi. After that we shall be posted, insha-ALLAH!


Thanx to Mrs. Kanwal Ali (Assistant Collector of Customs - 33rd Common) for sharing her experience with all of us.
Mrs. Kanwal Ali is currently enrolled at IBA, Karachi, for the last phase of her training.

ALLAH HAFIZ!
A.J.