The Other Pakistan Rays of Hope Part 3: The New Bureaucracy
Pakistan’s civil bureaucracy has for too long played the role of a seedy mistress to the ever lustful military leadership of this land of the pure. As a dynamic duo both have complimented the other in their acts of ommission and commission over sixty years and have turned Pakistan into a ‘maasilistan’.These bureaucracrats as a whole have ruled Pakistan with impunity and few emotions. They have been blind to the nation’s fate and gyrated to the whims of their masters alone. That said it seems hope has arrived (and about time too!) in the creaky corridors of power that make up the mighty bureacracy. So it seems that even the arcane and unforgiving lot that comprise the bureaucracy have begun to wake up from their collective and destructive deep sleep.
The failed Nuremburg doctrine of following orders blindly was found wanting decades ago and it seems its effects are finally beginning to travel eastwards too. This post seeks to provides the third part of my rays of hope series that seeks to provide some much needed light in the dark tunnel that has been Pakistan for too long.
The article needs no introduction as it is awe-inspiring and full of hope and is written by the legendary Ansar Abbasi. It is reproduced in full below and can be seen here :
The country’s top-most bureaucrats are meeting today (Wednesday) to discuss plans to overhaul the civil bureaucracy at a time when the younger lot in the civil services is seriously thinking of doing something about the grave issues that haunt Pakistan.
Young and mid-career bureaucrats these days aspire that the bureaucracy must gather themselves collectively and play a role in the destiny of the nation. While the elders are more concerned about the future of bureaucracy, the others are unable to detach themselves from the serious issues, including the ongoing judicial crisis.
Bureaucracy is generally seen as indifferent to the general feelings but the young officers want to prove this wrong. Through e-mail discussions, mid-career and young officers are discussing ways and means to play an effective role to bring the country out of the present multiple crises.
One such e-mail received by this correspondent quotes an officer belonging to the Foreign Service of Pakistan as saying: “If we let the judiciary sink this time, believe me we will sink to further depths as a nation.” He wrote to another officer: “We must now gather on a platform to put forth our collective bottom-line, without taking political sides.”
He added: “I find that whereas lawyers, civil society and journalists have done us proud in the last year, the bulk of the civil service, and off-the-cuff let me say 90 per cent of it, (I am being conservative) is in favour of restoration of the judiciary and rule of law in Pakistan.”
“There needs to be a forum, of the whole civil service, which can meet, and publicly, as a collective entity, give its proposals on the problems facing Pakistan.”
Perhaps being aware of the vulnerability of a civil servant, he suggested: “This collective higher body would be able to protect its members. Being together gives security.”He wondered: “Would it be against the law? Is there anything in the ESTACODE that says that we cannot act as a collective body, and without taking political sides, give our recommendations to the national problems of Pakistan.”
“Nobody is more aware of the ills than us, nobody squirms more on seeing the agony of the judges and the lawyers, yet we are silent,” he lamented but added, “Without being anti-government, anti-president, we must gather ourselves collectively and play a role in the destiny of our nation.”
Such e-mails are being exchanged at a time when the Secretaries Committee is all set to meet on Wednesday to discuss an altogether different issue ñ the restructuring plan of the civil bureaucracy as recommended by the National Commission on Government Reform (NCGR).
In the recent past and after March 9, the Secretaries Committee met several times but it never discussed the issues that have badly shaken the country. The post-March 9 judicial crisis and everything that had happened after November 3, 2007 remained “non-issues” for the civil bureaucracy, although, the top military bureaucracy has been chewing on such matters of national concern.
Instead, the Secretaries Committee has recently been criticised by the bureaucrats for becoming what an officer called “secretaries welfare committee”.In their individual interaction, most of the federal secretaries really sound worried about what is happening to Pakistan. However, they fear about speaking their mind in a formal meeting like the Secretaries Committee to avoid being “victimised” by the rulers.
Meanwhile, a federal secretary pointed out that a set of “super secretaries”, who are more relevant and worried about major issues of Pakistan, never attend the Secretaries Committee meetings. These secretaries include secretary National Security Council Tariq Aziz, secretary to the President Mohsin Hafeez and Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister Khalid Saeed. The source said these three secretaries never attended the Secretaries Committee meetings, which is headed by the cabinet secretary.
New Bureaucracy Zindabad
- Originally posted on 7th May 2008, 22.13 PK Time, written under MARTIAL LAW