Bhutto had a very clear vision of when and how to consolidate power in a society where, among other factors, the bureaucracy had become a powerful institution. To break this chain, he made his first move about two months after taking over, when he purged the bureaucracy of some 1,300 civil service officers. More stringent measures were to follow later, in a bid to cow down the edifice.
On March 12, 1972, Bhutto promulgated a Martial Law Regulation 114, under which these officers were removed with immediate effect.
On that day, Rais Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, Minister for Political Affairs, appeared on the national broadcasting network and said the purge was aimed at “toning up the administration”. As he spoke on the small screen, he began taking out small pieces of paper from his pockets bearing the names of the officials to be retired permanently, and read their names and designations. These included five members of the Foreign Service of Pakistan, several working as ambassadors, and 11 CSS officers. Following in the footsteps of the Federal Government move, provincial governments also acted in the same way. The provincial governors compulsorily retired 281 officials in Punjab, 165 in Khyber-Pukhtunkhwa (NWFP), and 75 in Sindh.
It was a very odd situation creating uncertainty in the civil bureaucracy. It appeared that Bhutto too, was following the past practice of military dictators. General Ayub Khan and General Yahya Khan, too removed many officials citing similar grounds. Rais Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, who in his address, justified the action by saying that despite the purges of the past, “… there still remained considerable dead wood, and many corrupt officials (who) lived beyond their means … The corruption in the Civil Service had reached incredible proportions”. As a general practice, he pledged protection to good and honest servants and that there would be no such further round of cleaning up.
Much criticism followed especially by those officers who wanted to work freely resisting all political influences. After the removal, when Bhutto arrived in Lahore, the then largest stronghold of People’s Party, he justified the action before a cheering PPP jiyalas crowd, saying, “People say that 2,000 government servants have been retired. But they were sucking the people’s blood. They were parasites. There was a clamour for the purge. But when it took place there have been complaints. We are in the midst of a revolution. We must root out corruption. People will get justice.”
A few days later, Bhutto appointed an Administrative Reform Committee. Its parameters included a study of civil bureaucracy and, keeping in view the political and socio-economic developments in the country, recommendations to make it viable.
In fact, Bhutto wanted to increase political influence over the bureaucracy and make it an extended arm of his party. He knew that this was a privileged class and its discretionary powers were impeding his plans and programmes. He wanted that it should include participation by party leaders and it should be answerable to the people’s elected representatives. He was quite critical of those who had served in districts and had developed methods of manoeuvring local leaders, “feudal, political and ethnic factions” which always resisted the change. He also wanted control in the recruiting process to meet his political ends.
In the following year, the committee presented Administrative Reforms, 1973, which Bhutto claimed would bring “sweeping reforms”. The major reforms that the committee suggested included: Creating a unified pay scale instead of a number of pay scales; setting up a Federal Public Service Commission to select and recommend appointment of suitable people for higher administrative posts; establishing Service tribunals to be set up in the provinces; modifying the role and status of CSP officers; making provisions for the appointment of suitable candidates within central superior services through competitive examination, etc. These reforms became effective by The Civil Servants Act, 1973.
These reforms had far-reaching consequences, which dented the effectiveness and independence of the bureaucracy. The most important was the removal of protection given to civil servants in previous defunct constitutions, which included safeguards against unilateral dismissal, reduction in rank and compulsory retirement. The effectiveness of the bureaucracy was compromised when civil servants from the ruling party were appointed to senior positions as these civil servants were to serve the political ends of their masters. Bhutto’s foresightedness had made the civil service a docile institution — one of his objectives to ensure his political supremacy.
Bhutto presumed that his act would stay forever but seven years later, after overthrowing his government, military dictator Ziaul Haq amended the Civil Servants Act, empowering him to remove any civil servant appointed by the People’s Party rule i.e., from January 1, 1972 to July 5, 1977.
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