ISLAMABAD, April 14: Prime Minister Mir Zafaruallah Khan Jamali has taken exception to the idea of sending home a large number of government employees in the name of rightsizing.

The prime minister, who visited the Establishment Division on Monday, said that he did not agree with the Division’s decision to retire about 688 employees who have completed a two-year term in the surplus pool.

According to a statement issued by the prime minister’s secretariat, Mr Jamali has asked the Establishment Division to be just and fair in deciding on the disciplinary cases pending against the civil servants.

He also asked them to learn at least one foreign language in addition to English, and regional languages.

The prime minister stressed the need to shun the colonial mindset and infuse the spirit of service in their official dealings.

He said that honesty and efficiency should be the hallmark of public servants and they must consider themselves “servants” of the people in the true sense of the word.

Mr Jamali said that civil servants must attend periodic courses, specially in management and public administration.

He asked them to respect their subordinates and encourage hard work, honesty and efficiency.

Earlier, Secretary Establishment Mr Javed Aly gave a presentation on the core functions, reform initiatives, undertaken by his organization. He informed that these reforms were aimed at developing an institutional framework pertaining to recruitment, human resource development, human resource management, accountability and restructuring of civil services.

He said that the Establishment Division was striving to establish a transparent and merit-based recruitment procedure by strengthening the FPSC. Capacity-building of young officers was also being considered, the secretary said.

The presentation was attended, among others, by chairman federal public service commission, Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, Principal Secretary to the prime minister Nasiruddin Ahmad, Secretary Economic Affairs Division (EAD) Dr Waqar Masood Khan and other senior officials of various ministries.