I appeared before a panel at Punjab Public Service Commission Headquarters Lahore for the post of Assistant Superintendent Jail. Before this interview, I had no experience of appearing before a panel for a job, though I had appeared in a panel interview for admission to Hailey College of Commerce, University of the Punjab, Lahore, back in 2012.

The interview at PPSC was scheduled on December 2, 2016, a day after I was informed that I have been recommended for the NAB interview as well. So, I was quite relieved. The senior of mine who arranged a mock interview session for me told me that when I would enter the interview room, my heartbeat would surge up and my legs would shiver. Fortunately and surprisingly, it didn’t happen.

I entered the room and said, “Assalaamu Alaikum.” The panel comprised of four people; a PPSC member, a person from the Prisons department (probably an AIG) and two other members, one of them being a psychologist.

The PPSC member responded, “Wa Alaikumus Salaam. Have a seat young man.” To this, I sat on the chair.

He looked at the file that contained all my educational documents, and said: “Why everyone today is a Commerce graduate?” To this, I smiled and kept quiet. He probably passed this statement because one of the candidates who appeared before I got a chance to appear was an MBA.

He asked, “kya kar rahe ho aj kal?” I said, “I have recently completed M. Com 3 ½ Years.”

Then he asked me, “What is the nexus between Commerce and jails?”

I responded, “There is hardly any connection between the two.”

“Then why are you joining the jails department?” He asked.
I said, “As a person who has recently graduated, I want to serve the state of Pakistan at a very good level, and for that Punjab Police is one of the best departments to join.”

And this was a great and probably the only blunder I made. I got an outright negative response at that. As a matter of fact, the Prisons Department is totally separate from the Police department but I told the former as a part of latter.

The person from the Prisons department gave a big “NO” at my response.
Before I could say anything further, the member asked me, “Didn’t you go through all the hierarchical structure of the Prisons department?”
I said, “I did go through it and perceived that it is connected with the Police department.”

To this he said, “You will be disappointed once you join the department.”

I said, “I will not be Sir. I will work with all my enthusiasm.”

He asked, “For what post are you here?”

I said, “Assistant Superintendent Jail.” Due to the blunder I made, my confidence had badly shaken and I started to feel that each and every question uttered by the member is intended to make me feel ashamed. Yet, I kept my calm.

“What will be your duties being an ASJ inside the jail and outside the jail?”
He asked.

“I don’t know about my duties outside the jail, but inside the jail, my duty would be to execute the orders passed by the seniors.” I responded.

“No initiative?” He asked.

“I will take one if allowed to.” I said.

“What sort of initiatives?” He asked.

“I will arrange separate staff for each kind of prisoners and would also enhance the security of the prisons by installing security gadgets such as CCTV cameras and walk-through gates.” I told.

“They are already in place.” He said.

“I will place them only if they are not there.” I responded.

"What is the foremost duty of a Superintendent Jail?” He asked

“To ensure that there is no mayhem among the prisoners and the law and order is established is the top duty of the Superintendent.”
I said.

“Job done?” He said.

“It’s just the foremost duty.” I said.

“Educating the prisoners is also very important so as to make sure that they are no more a bad part of the society and are made a constructive part of it once they are out of the prison.”

Then the member asked the other panelist to ask me some questions regarding General Ability.

The other panelist asked, “Do you read books apart from the books prescribed in the syllabus?”

“Yes, I do have a very good habit of book reading. I read books from religion to fiction and other topics.” I responded.

“Can you name some of them?” He said.

“Yes, Khuda aur Muhabbat, Kashf ul Majoob, Sham e Karbala. . . ” I said.

“What’s written in Kashf ul Majoob?” He interrupted.

“I haven’t gone through all of it, but it’s a fabulous book written by Daata Sarkaar and it talks about mysteries of the soul, realities of the self and talks about self-purification.”

Then the person sitting next to him asked me about the Fourteen Points.

I said, “British were introducing reforms in India and as series of reforms, acts were introduced in 1861 and 1892. Then there were Minto-Morley and Mont-Ford Reforms. But the Muslims were of the view that they are not being given their due rights and . . .”

This time, the PPSC member interrupted me and asked.

“Ok, what’s happening in the Middle East?”

“Middle East has been a complete disaster lately. There is mayhem in Syria and destruction in Yemen, where the Houthis have revolted against the government.” I said.

“Who are the Houthis?” He asked.

“Houthis are the rebels who have revolted against the government which is believed to be pro-Saudi government.” I responded.

“What do you think about Fidel Castro?” He asked.

“I don’t know much about him, but if someone pursues a Communist policy in the neighbourhood of the US, the house of Capitalism, he is certainly immaculate.” I said.

“What is Capitalism?” He asked.

“Capitalism is a system which is investor based. A person invests and reaps his profits according to his policies and there is no intervention by the government, Laissez Faire.” I said.

“Ok there are certain economic systems in the world – Communism presented by Marx, Socialism by Mao – what’s the difference between Communism and Socialism?”

“As far as I know, there is hardly any difference between the two but Socialism is a bit relaxed form of Communism, as the means of transportation are with the masses. Communism, on the other hand, is a very rigid system, where everything lies with the state.” I said.

“We talk of the Islamic system of economy, sood is haram, this is haram, that is haram. Is it in place anywhere in the world?” He asked.

“No Sir, it is not in place anywhere in the world.” I replied.

“Can we implement it? He said.

“Yes, we can. But for that we need to have certain substantial reforms. We need to alienate ourselves from the current global system of economy. We need to say a permanent goodbye to the IMF and World Bank, which in the present context is near to impossible.” I said.

“Thank you young man” He said.
I shook my head in response, left my seat and came out of the interview room.

The final result is as follows.

Written 72.5/100
Interview 86/100
Final merit list number 12/100