APROPOS the editorial ‘Role of institutions’ (Feb 21). All the three institutions of the state are equally sacred and have their own sphere of duties.

The parliament is responsible for making laws and plans for the welfare and security of the nation. The judiciary is meant to enforce these laws by dispensing justice, while the executive is tasked with implementing the plans. All have to work independently while respecting each other’s domain. Unfortunately in Pakistan, one has acted against the other to the detriment of the state.

It was parliament that took away the independence of the executive, especially of the civil bureaucracy. Their security as the servant of the state that came from the Government of India Act, 1935, continued after 1947 through the Constitutions of 1956, 1962, and 1972.

Soon after Pakistan’s independence our founder and then as head of the state, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had addressed the civil servants in Peshawar. He said: “If you want to raise the prestige and greatness of Pakistan you must not fall victim to any pressure but do your duty as servants of the people and the state, fearlessly and honestly. The services are the backbone of the state. Governments are formed. Governments are defeated. Prime ministers come and go, ministers come and go, but you stay on. Therefore, there is a very great responsibility placed on your shoulders”.

However, the 1973 Constitution passed by the parliamentarians told the civil servant that he “shall stand retired on any date that the government directs him to retire.” The beleaguered bureaucracy, therefore, had to become not only an auxiliary to the misdeeds of the government but in this process itself became corrupt.

The role of the institutions has been taken to the point of a storm by the ruling members of parliament with mala fide intents, i.e., not to be brought to justice for their apparent misdeeds. So, it seems, that now it is time for the judiciary to suffer.

S. Osman Sher

Mississauga, Canada

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2018