LAHORE, April 24: Coming events cast their shadows before – something that holds true particularly in the case of a political party leader who has been calling bureaucrats at his ‘private residences’ to interview them for key posts, though he himself is still a good distance from becoming the Punjab chief minister.

Appear before a panel of five or six people, led by PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif, at his ‘private residence’ and prove your loyalty to the party plus your credentials as “a suitable public servant who is willing to do the job to the best of his abilities.”

Among the bureaucrats are police officers who are making it to the Sharifs’ residences at Jati Umra (Raiwind) and Defence where the shortlisting of the ‘most suitable candidates’ is being made for their appointments against key posts.

“Well, everyone knows that Dost Muhammad Khosa has been made the chief minister of the country’s biggest province for the time being and ultimately Shahbaz Sharif will take over as the chief executive in a few months. But, at least Mr Sharif should maintain some decorum by holding such meetings in the presence of

Mr Khosa at any of the three official secretariats in

Lahore to give an impression that it is strictly an official business,” observed a senior bureaucrat.

He said it was not a good precedent and all the party leaders must follow some code of conduct on how to run administrative affairs.

An officer, who had appeared before the panel at one of the residences of the Sharif family, informed Dawn that the interviewers took an average 15 minutes to test each candidate’s ability to ‘deliver’.

“Fifteen minutes are not enough to judge the capabilities and competence of a bureaucrat. Perhaps, the panelists set their opinion about the candidate after observing his body language and face expressions.”

He said: “In fact, they have a predetermined opinion about each candidate they are interviewing. And only such candidates are called who have already been ‘cleared’ by the people at the helm of affairs.”

Justifying the manner of interview process, another officer said such a practice was common in Pakistan. He said everybody knew that Mr Shahbaz Sharif would eventually run the affairs of the province. Therefore, he added, it was ‘secondary’ through what process he was forming the new setup.

“Visit any government office, especially the Civil Secretariat, these days and you will find a marked improvement in many ways. Officers are now strictly observing office timings; they come and leave office on time,” he claimed.

Shahbaz Sharif’s son

Hamza Shahbaz, a candidate for NA-119, denied any ‘interviews’ of the government officers at the residences of the Sharif family.

“In fact, Chief Minister Dost Muhammad Khosa and other officers pay a visit to Shahbaz Sharif for consultation as he is going to become the chief executive of the province within two months or so,” he said.

“Not inclined to waste time, Shahbaz Sharif is making frantic efforts to do the spadework. The public has great expectations from the new government and it will have to take extraordinary measures to cope with issues like flour availability, law and order, and corruption,” he said, adding that Mr Shahbaz Sharif had accepted the responsibility to face the challenges.