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VERY recently, yet another prime minister stressed the need for reform of the civil service in Pakistan. As in the case of all such assertions by his predecessors, it is very likely that deep down the PM neither believed nor meant what he said. Like AI is these days, ‘civil service reform’ has been the ‘buzzword’ for a couple of decades now. I would not at all be surprised if next time the honourable PM stresses the need for bringing reform to civil service through AI. That would create the perfect storm.
Every few years, a ‘civil service reform blueprint’ lands in our newspapers; that is as far as reform gets. Some combo of CSS syllabus revamp, performance management dashboards, reshuffling of senior posts under the guise of ‘merit’, and induction of professionals from the private sector form the core of the reform almost every time. Interestingly, these avenues of civil service reform have been explored endlessly with the same result — the more things change the more they stay the same.
Instead of endlessly trying to depoliticise the civil service, let’s politicise it properly. Let every new government bring in its own top civil servants — secretaries, commissioners, ambassadors, commercial attachés — all of them. Let them align policy with politics.
This idea is not as radical as it sounds. The US does it. So does France. Political appointments are a feature of most mature democracies, and immature ones like ours do the same but behind a veil. It isn’t about stuffing the system with friends; it’s about aligning bureaucracy with a political vision chosen by the public.
Let’s politicise the civil service properly.
The fact that Mr Azam Khan and Mr Fawwad Hassan Fawwad, principal secretaries to unceremoniously ousted PMs in the recent past, have both faced legal cases afterwards shows that this idea of neutral civil servants is a mere smokescreen. Civil servants bear the brunt of political affiliations but at the same time are unable to function in full capacity due to the so-called neutrality clause. This is a hypocrisy of sorts, a magic trick the secret behind which is well known to the audience, yet the magician insists on performing it.
Even now, the government trusts the services of present and past civil servants who share a similar political vision. For example, Dr Tauqir Shah, who is currently serving as adviser in the Prime Minister’s Office, was a trusted civil servant of the PML-N government during previous terms. Similarly, Ahad Cheema resigned to be part of the government and is currently Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Establishment Division. Various circumstances led these individuals to come out openly about their political affiliations, but not all civil servants are as bold and fortunate as them, and keeping up with the act of neutrality undermines their performance.
What we have right now is a hotchpotch of a civil service that’s unaccountable at the top, clueless at the bottom, and proud of both. Bureaucrats float through postings like musical chairs, avoiding risk, waiting for a better boss. The only ones who thrive are those who master the art of playing both sides — vaguely competent, deeply cautious, allergic to initiative.
So why not drop the act? Let governments bring in their own team. Let voters know: this secretary of health was chosen by the health minister you elected. If policies fail, accountability becomes possible. Right now, the civil service is a fortress of untraceable decisions and dispersed responsibility. Everyone is in charge; no one is to blame.
Give the senior BPS 19-22 civil servants the option to choose political parties as per their personal political inclination, and let the governments pick and choose their team irrespective of seniority or cadre. This would introduce self-accountability within political parties as well when the deeds of the bureaucrat they picked directly impact the party’s repute and future prospects.
Meanwhile, the lower tiers of bureaucracy, BPS 17-18 — the real executors of state — should be retrained to uphold the law in letter and spirit.
Teach them what the law means, not just what it says, and empower them to serve the public without any fear of outdated audit practices or selective accountability, which is possible only if their seniors share the political vision with the government.
Lastly, I know that this idea might be mocked for being ridiculously radical, but what’s truly astounding is continuing with a 1947-era structure in 2025. In today’s Pakistan, the idea that bureaucrats are neutral professionals who serve any government is not noble — it’s naïve. It may work in countries with a strong legal culture and embedded civic norms, but all of us very well know where we stand on those fronts as a country.
We don’t need reform. We need to flip the system.
The writer is a former civil servant.
Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2025
