MUZAFFARABAD: Following Information Minister Mushtaq Minhas’ publicly expressed grievances regarding the alleged dominance of bureaucracy in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), another senior cabinet member has also taken a similar line, unveiling unease in the ruling PML-N parliamentary party about certain polices of Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider.

“There are no differences in the parliamentary party and cabinet… But the fruits of the struggle and sacrifices for [the enforcement of] good governance and merit in Azad Kashmir have not yet reached the common man; the attitude of the bureaucracy is impeding it,” said Chaudhry Tariq Farooq, senior minister for physical planning, housing, agriculture, livestock and irrigation, in conversation with a group of journalists.

“Previously, politicians would be accused of meddling in recruitments, but it’s surprising that nowadays the bureaucracy itself is doing the same thing,” he added.

He said top bureaucrats were “hand in glove” with each other and an impartial investigation could make it clear that the appointments made through the intervention of politicians were far fewer than those made by bureaucrats through mutual cooperation.

The senior minister said that there was dire need to do away with the perception that Mr Haider’s consultative team consisted of bureaucrats rather than his political colleagues.

Mr Farooq’s views appeared to corroborate publicly expressed allegations by Mr Minhas that bureaucrats ruled the roost in AJK.

“This is not the government which the people and the PML-N workers had dreamed about before the July 21 polls… It is the government of bureaucrats,” Mr Minhas had said at an event on April 20 in the presence of Mr Haider.

The senior minister agreed that transparency and merit were required in the appointments, postings and transfers of top-level bureaucrats.

“The outcome and impact of the sacrifices rendered by the parliamentary party and workers should be visible at the grassroots level,” he said. He was of the view that even though the PML-N government had reconstituted the Public Service Commission (PSC) the reservations about the transparency of the exams conducted by the previous commission were not addressed.

“If the previous PSC was constituted on political basis, the existing one has been constituted on the basis of personal relations even if its members carry good repute,” he said, in a veiled attack on the premier.

The senior minister said that he and many others in the government were not satisfied with the performance of the Ehtesab Bureau, but improvement was expected after recent amendments in the relevant law.

“People will not be satisfied unless across the board accountability of politicians and bureaucrats is held without any discrimination,” he said. He said while politicians were bound to submit details of their wealth and assets after every five years, government servants were required to do so annually.

“But the law was not being implemented, thus providing the bureaucracy a fear-free atmosphere to go ahead with corruption or corrupt practices,” he said.

He regretted that the media targeted politicians, but had rarely focused on the corrupt elements within the bureaucracy.

In response to a question, he said the PML-N had not held a single meeting of its office bearers and central working committee after coming to power. “That might be the reason that our measures are not visible on the ground,” he said.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2017