at the bureaucracy is the epoxy that greases the wheels of progress,

while a detractor said the bureaucracy destroys initiative.

While the first quotation reflects how the British perceived the bureaucracy in
this country, the latter quotation reflects how subsequent governments in
Pakistan have been viewing it. Ever since the British left, we have been
battering and moulding our bureaucracy to Pakistani requirements, which in
essence has been to make it subservient to the rulers, whether military or civil.
The phrase remnant of the colonial past was used conveniently to reform
the bureaucracy to make it a notch more subservient, conveniently ignoring all
the other heritage of the Raj, like the systems and traditions of the Pakistan
Army. Even criminal and civil laws have mainly stayed the same, as left by the
British.

The bureaucracy is depressed, scared and directionless.

Bureaucracy bashing started with Ayub Khan firing 303 senior officers,
followed by Yahya Khans dismissal of 1,300 officers; the withdrawal of
constitutional guarantees by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto; his administrative reforms of
1972 followed by numerous other commissions to reform the bureaucracy.
The final cut was the devolution reforms of Pervez Musharraf, which made the
district administration, that touches the lives of 70pc of the population,
unrecognisable. Twelve years later, the public still does not know what each of
the plethora of new posts created in the name of devolution in the police and
civil administration, is supposed to do.
With each reform in the past 67 years, the bureaucracy slumped one notch
lower in its delivery. The rulers, to make up for the decline, started using
newspaper and TV ads to pretend there was good governance. The more
delivery declines, the greater the frequency of ads.
It is easy to condemn the bureaucracy, but what should it be replaced with? To
hire or post inappropriate civil servants, based on political loyalty, is the done
thing, but when delivery declines, the bureaucracy and not the ruler is blamed.
The removal of the IG Sindh, after a two-month tenure, for reportedly not
signing a Rs8 billion procurement contract, is an indicator of the priorities of
the rulers.

Posts in scores of crucial institutions are lying vacant because the government
cant find competent executives who are personally loyal also. The present
rulers are reported to have said that the quality of bureaucracy has declined
seriously since they were in power last, and they cant figure out why.
The writ of the state is at an abysmal low because the bureaucracy is
depressed, scared and directionless.
They are depressed because there are no postings and promotions on merit.
It is who you know in the political hierarchy or whom you go to, to offer your
services that gets you postings and promotions.
Civil servants are scared because the courts have been summoning them on
a regular basis. The criticism from the courts is reported in real time on TV. So
without trial or charge, they often find themselves convicted.
A classic example was the fate of one of the most highly regarded civil
servants, Kamran Lashari, for allowing a McDonalds in a park of Islamabad in
violation of the capitals master plan. While the eatery continues to thrive at
the same location, his illustrious career was cut short. The current digging up
of the capital, in violation of the master plan, is apparently going unnoticed by
the courts.
In the process, the system has made sure that young civil servants should not
have any role models. The civil servants are directionless because their own
internal mechanism of command and control has been annihilated. The
establishment secretary, who used to be the mai-bap of the bureaucracy, is
now a post office. All decisions are taken above him or through manipulation
(you have to get a requisition from a minister to be posted). At the provincial
level the chief secretary was the boss. In one recent case, I know that a chief
secretary was unable to get an officer of his choice even as his staff officer.
So what can you expect from a depressed, scared and directionless
bureaucracy? Absolutely nothing. This exactly is what we are getting.
As a solution, yet another round of reforms will not work. All that is required is
to restore the respect and status of civil servants, rather than claim victory for
bashing them. The powers and role of the heads of all departments and
ministries, including the establishment secretary and chief secretaries, should
be restored.
Once civil servants confidence and self-respect are restored and things again
start happening on merit, the bureaucracy will start delivering and those who

dont should be held accountable, according to a transparent system of

evaluation.
If nothing else, a subservient bureaucracy will run the country and also the
government in power, into the ground.
The writer is a former federal secretary interior.