Why are people scared of government officials?

 The vast majority of Pakistanis are absolutely illiterate, so one can understand why they're afraid to go to the police when their valuables are stolen or when their women are raped. But I've seen even well-to-do Pakistanis who dread going to any government official. If it is absolutely necessary, they send their employees or lawyers. 

I remember the time when some very expensive electrical equipment (including the meter for recording energy usage) was stolen in my salt factory. My partner didn't want to go to the cops to register the theft, but I pointed out that it had to be done, since the meter was owned by a government organization (the Karachi Electric Supply Corp). We went to the police station, but he refused to go inside with me, as he was convinced he wouldn't come out alive. I went in alone, had tea with the Station House Officer, who registered the complaint, then came out to escort me to my car. I looked around, my partner had disappeared, until I saw him in the distance seated at a roadside restaurant. He came over, shaking with fear, and got in the car. He asked me how the cops had treated me, as he thought they would beat me up for reporting the theft (as it is still commonly believed that the police are involved in most cases of theft and robbery).

Then there was the time when a lady neighbor of mine started receiving obnoxious and threatening calls. She had three very pretty daughters who had given up answering the phone as some males had been threatening to kidnap them. I asked her to go to the telephone department across the street and file a complaint. She shuddered and said that she (being a woman) might be harassed in some way (like getting a huge inflated bill). So I drafted a letter, got her to sign it and delivered it by hand to the telephone company. In a couple of days, the threatening and obnoxious calls stopped and she was able to sleep well again.

To return to the subject, people are scared to have anything to do with the cops or any government department because they are victimized. A former police official revealed the other day that the prime minister Imran Khan himself had told him to arrest opposition politicians on trumped up charges. This kind of thing makes the police and other bureaucrats think they are indispensable and so they use their powers indiscriminately.