| December 30, 2003 | Tuesday | Ziqa’ad 6, 1424 |
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Civil services reform
Ban — and its breaches
THERE was another hiccup when the MMA-government agreement was presented before the National Assembly in the form of a constitutional amendment bill on Friday. The argument was over whether the LFO had been incorporated in the bill as having already become part of the Constitution or whether the bill was meant to get parliamentary authorization for the LFO for the latter to be made part of the Constitution. The MMA pointed out that, along with the rest of the opposition, it had always refused to consider the LFO as part of the Constitution, and argued that the bill should clearly state that it was a new amendment meant to incorporate the LFO into the Constitution as agreed in negotiations between the two sides. The issue was taken up outside the National Assembly and it was reported that while the bill would not be redrafted, it might be changed where it was found to deviate from the MMA-government deal. The dispute seemed more semantic than substantive in nature, and accordingly the bill was taken up again and passed by a two-thirds majority yesterday after a prolonged session overnight. The measure was due to be presented before the Senate for its approval.
Thus, a protracted political and legal squabble between the military and the MMA has come to an end, largely on the former’s terms but with the latter winning concessions on some key issues. As has been said earlier, the arrangement that has now materialized is not the most satisfactory one. The military establishment has succeeded in laying down certain parameters within which the polity is supposed to function. It will now be up to the political parties and parliament to ensure that they use the opening provided to bring power back to where it rightly belongs. In that sense, politicians will be on test for their commitment to democracy and the welfare of the people they represent. It should be hoped that the military too has realized after its latest intervention that the world has changed and that it is no longer possible for a country that wants to be part of the international system to exist as an isolated dictatorship.
The National Assembly debate on the amendment bill has brought out into the open the fissures that had developed in opposition ranks ever since the MMA decided to enter into negotiations with the government with the aim of reaching a compromise on the LFO. The PML-N and the PPP reject the LFO in principle since it has been framed by a military-led government. They made their feelings known on the floor of the house during discussions on the bill on Sunday and Monday. The two parties represent a majority of voters, and their sentiments should be respected. Isolating them further or seeking to bulldoze over them will eventually prove counter-productive. Both the MMA and the PML-Q should take steps to make the PPP and PML-N feel more relevant and include them in consultations on issues of concern to the common citizen. Everyone should be seen as having a stake in ensuring that Pakistan acquires a durable political and democratic system where there is no room for adventurism. Treating politicians and politics with contempt has led to a heavy price being paid in terms of lack of progress in tackling vital foreign and domestic problems and the erosion of all institutions necessary for our political growth. Arbitrary dissolution of assemblies has been the bane of our political life from the beginning, and even if this can be prevented, it will be a step forward.
THE intention of the government to reform the civil service set-up, as reported on Monday, can be seen as a welcome move. This is an effort, say senior government officials, to make the bureaucracy responsive and accessible to the general public. However, if past undertakings are anything to go by, this may well be an exercise in futility. So far, there have been over 30 initiatives to reform the bureaucracy in one way or another and most of these have not yielded the desired results. In fact, standards seem to be falling as public complaints grow of inordinate delays in taking decisions, inefficiency in functioning, politicization of officers and corruption in the ranks. Senior officials also complain that the quality of entrants to the service has also declined over the years. It can be said that a combination of adverse service conditions as well as a faulty selection and a training process that brings in officers who lack the required skills and attitude for the job have clearly affected the functioning of the civil service as a whole.
The government proposes to change this with a series of reforms. These are part of an exercise that will result in the creation of an elite group within the civil service called the National Executive Service (NES). This cadre will comprise civil servants capable of formulating proactive policies at senior levels and will staff all policy-making positions in grades 19 to 22 in the federal, provincial and district governments. It is proposed that the NES will be an umbrella service for different streams within the government in the expectation that these officers will be more sensitive to the needs of the people through a rigorous system of training and education. While the need to improve the working of the bureaucracy is very much needed, whether the NES officers will be able to deliver remains to be seen. One would have expected the government to concentrate on improving the intake and the service conditions of civil servants as a whole. The entire service needs to be revamped if the government expects to see any improvement in its working. Anything else will be yet another half-hearted attempt that would result in a very limited improvement or, worse, see a further deterioration.
REPORTED violations of a ban imposed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Indian channels has again brought to the fore the relevance of such prohibitions. According to its mandate, Pemra is supposed to ensure that cable operators in the country offer subscribers — estimated to be around 25 million, according to a government reply to a question asked recently in the Senate — reliable and affordable services and that nothing deemed obscene or objectionable to the country’s cultural or moral traditions is aired. In that context, Pemra has chosen to impose a much-publicized but little-heeded prohibition on Indian channels which, as the authority is quick to point out, are banned because their programming runs counter to our cultural and moral values.
First of all, many programmes on English language or even some Pakistani channels would fall foul of Pemra’s conservative guidelines regarding what constitutes vulgarity and to single out only Indian channels does not make too much sense. Second, whose definition of obscenity is Pemra trying to enforce? The line between vulgar and something that is not is a very fine one, and what about the tendency amongst some of us to find something obscene in everything, even a gesture as wholesome as a father embracing his daughter? Most channels do show programmes that lie broadly within our moral and cultural boundaries and if some narrow-minded retrogressives have a problem with that, they can always watch something else or make sure their children are prevented from harmful exposure. With a fully functional, and overly active, censor board around in Pakistan, why should Pemra’s bureaucracy be made every cable subscriber’s moral custodian? Surely, the authority has other pressing issues to deal with — like ensuring viewers get the channels that cable operators claim to provide in promotional brochures, or making sure that picture and sound quality is consistent and good and that disruption in services is kept to a minimum. In any case, given the current thaw in bilateral relations and with well-known Indian film-makers openly expressing a desire to make movies in Pakistan, a ban on Indian channels seems quite out of tune with the times.