Promoting merit?

This refers to the news report, ‘Merit sole criterion for civil service promotions: Nawaz’ (May 20). It was good to hear the PM making the announcement but it has to be subjected to a few simple litmus tests.
Are civil servants also performing their duties on merit? What about appointments in PSEs? They surely have not been done on merit. Would our PM like to elaborate on this issue? Appointing outsiders and imported people was the hallmark of the previous PPP government which the PML-N government may be finding truly beneficial.
Benjamin Kahn
Faisalabad