My Interview for the Post of AD, FIA

[Sabir Basheer]

Salaam to the members and the guests!
As a consequence of repeated requests from members to share my Interview, I am hereby sharing whatever I remember from my Interview for AD (Investigation), FIA.
Interviews for these posts were scheduled in May/June, 2016 and I appeared on 01 June at FPSC provincial office in Lahore. There were 30 candidates at Lahore center. Nine candidates were called per day for three days and three candidates on fourth day. I was 8th candidate on my day of interview which means I was second last and my Interview was conducted between 02:30 pm to 03:10 pm. It spanned over 40 minutes. My interviews for various posts of general recruitment comprised around 15 to 20 minutes. It was unusually longer. The panel comprised the following:
1- The worthy Chairman FPSC, Naveed Akram Cheema
2- Member FPSC, Ahmad Farooq
3-Director FIA, Dr Usman Anwar.

I entered the interview room and greeted the panel with salaam. Before sitting at the chair, I stopped for a while and looked upon the chairman, waiting for him to say, " Mr. Sabir Hussain have a seat". Instead of that usually expected response, he got up from his seat and extended his hand for a warm handshake. I shook hand with him and he asked me, " How are you?" I told that I was fine and asked him how was he. Then he asked me to take seat. Then he began as:

The chairman: Mr. Sabir, in the photos you submitted to the Commission, you had beard but now you have shaved. Why did you shave?
Me: Sir, I shaved just to change my style. Moreover, it was not a beard in Islamic sense. Rather it was a little grown shave.
The chairman: Do you shave regularly these days?
Me: Yes, I do.
The chairman: Is it not a contradiction that at that time you did leave your shave to grow but now you shave regularly?
Me: Sir, as I told it was a style only.
Then he preferred to leave this topic and directly hit some areas from Pakistan Affairs.
The chairman: Who was Ayub Khan?
Me: He was Commander In chief of Pakistan Army and imposed first martial law in 1958.
The chairman: What were the charges against civilian government which prompted him to impose martial law?
Me: The political governments were unstable and failed to deliver. Moreover, the President Sikandar Mirza himself invited Ayub Khan on 7th of October, 1958 but Ayub expelled him after 20 days to completely take over on 27 October, 1958.
The chairman: What was BD system?
Me: Sir, it was Basic Democracies system introduced by Ayub Khan through 1962 constitution. There were 80,000 Basic Democracies.
The chairman: What comprised electoral college?
Me: Sir, those Basic Democracies.
The chairman: Who were contestants against Ayub Khan in Presidential elections?
Me: I can remember only Fatima Jinnah.
The chairman: There were two other candidates but their names are not much known.
Me: Ok sir. I don't know them.
Then he asked me some questions about my home district, its people and some other features.
Then the Chairman referred me to the the next member sitting at his left side. He was Dr. Usman Anwar (PSP), Director FIA.
The interaction with him and the third member will be shared in next sitting.

Regards!!

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[Sabir Basheer]

Dr. Usman Anwar has an aggressive style of talking and arguing. He began as:-
Dr. Usman: Mr. Sabir your spoken English is very good. You are using exact words and well structured sentences of English. How did you improve your spoken English?
Me: Sir, it is a long journey. I give a lot of credit to Pakistan Air Force for this. The organisation provided me a lot of training in which there was a special focus upon written and spoken English. Moreover, I had an interest in English language from school and college levels. I would study various books upon English grammar and usage. Then I have been reading English newspapers and magazines since my college times. Earlier, I used to note down new words and then I would look them up in the dictionary.
Dr. Usman: You are a logical man. Which English newspaper do you generally read ?
Me: I have read all the national dailies at different times but most of the times I read Dawn.
Dr. Usman: What is it in Dawn upon which do you specifically focus?
Me: After cursory view of the whole paper I specifically read the editorial page.
Dr. Usman: Tell me about a few columnists whom you read.
I told a few names from which he picked one. He was Pervez Hoodbhoy. He asked me about a few columns of him which I read latest. From those he picked a column. It was " Back from the Enemy Country". In this column Hoodbhoy penned down the account of his tour to India. He had visited and spoke in some educational institutions there. More over, he pointed out some points of convergence and divergence between the people of India and Pakistan. At this a discussion was started by Dr Usman Anwar about what I thought about these similarities and differences. Is there actually feeling of animosity between people across the border or a mere hype has been created. Then some discussion upon Gujarat riots.
After that he asked some questions about media and about grievances of smaller provinces against Punjab.
Dr Usman: What is your opinion about freedom of media? PEMRA and these TV channels etc. Should they be let free or the state should enforce some restrictions?
Me: Sir, I think the media groups should follow the ethics of journalism. There should be self discipline and they should be mature enough. The enforcement of restrictions is not desirable.
Then some discussion about what are do's and don't 's of media ethics. Which groups promote yellow journalism and which is/are mature.
Dr. Usman: What are the grievances of other provinces against Punjab and are they justified or not?
I started from Balochistan and then we talked about Sindh. Some genuine concerns were highlighted by me and also threw light upon some issues which are only politicised. I also pointed out the failures of the provincial governments in the development in those provinces, illustrating with concrete examples.
Then Dr. Usman Anwar closed his session and referred me to Ahmad Farooq sb , member FPSC. Ahmad Farooq sb had a lengthy session mainly from English literature. I will share it soon.

Regards!!

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[mujipak]

@Sabir Basheer
Anxiously waiting for the last part of your interview. I enjoyed your writing a lot.

[Shahrukh Kalyar]

Outstanding performance by a consistent person. Dear Sabir Basheer you deserve more than this. Stay Blessed

[Hassan j malik]

Sabir bhai i am one of your admirers out hea ... Anxiously waiting for the last part with Ahmad Farooq sb ...

[bureaucarate]

Originally Posted by Sabir Basheer

Ha ha. :p

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sir new seats kab arahe hai??

[Sabir Basheer]

Originally Posted by bureaucarate

sir new seats kab arahe hai??

May be in the Advertisement No. 11/2016. That is in November.

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[Educateme]

Why is Balochistan ignored especially in FIA? There were no posts for us... Are we not patriot enough to serve our country in every field? Seniors Plz raise your voices for this injustice.

[justsid]

Originally Posted by Educateme

Why is Balochistan ignored especially in FIA? There were no posts for us... Are we not patriot enough to serve our country in every field? Seniors Plz raise your voices for this injustice.

It is not about patriotism. Punjab has over 100 million people while Baluchistan has 5 million. Quota is assigned according to population. Seats are also filled according to quotas. When seat will be available for Baluchistan then it would be clearly mentioned that seat is for Baluchistan domicile only. Some seats are also for merit only so if someone thinks that one is competent then one should aim for that merit seat.

[Sabir Basheer]

Originally Posted by justsid

It is not about patriotism. Punjab has over 100 million people while Baluchistan has 5 million. Quota is assigned according to population. Seats are also filled according to quotas. When seat will be available for Baluchistan then it would be clearly mentioned that seat is for Baluchistan domicile only. Some seats are also for merit only so if someone thinks that one is competent then one should aim for that merit seat.

I second Justsid.

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