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Friday March 29, 2024

A mature CSS

By M Saeed Khalid
August 28, 2016

The PML-N government’s third year in office passed without a cabinet reshuffle. Trial balloons about ministerial changes are occasionally launched through the press, rekindling hopes of seeing some new faces in the ageing team.

However, no changes have materialised and there is no sign of any rejuvenation of the cabinet. The three-term premier who once fancied driving high-powered cars on new motorways has become a fan of ultra-safe driving. The periodic heat generated over the continued absence of a parliamentarian foreign minister has also failed to produce a result.

Now comes a confusing signal from the ruling party about their policy concerning the young. Rather than focusing on ways to get the brightest and most talented young men and women in the Central Superior Services or the CSS, the government has raised the maximum age limit for the competitive examination from 28 to 30. The planning minister stated that by raising the age limit, Pakistan has joined the ranks of India, Bangladesh and some others where 30 is the maximum age for national competitive examinations.

Ahsan Iqbal pointed out that the CSS age limit in Pakistan too was 30 but lowered to 28 under Gen Musharraf, without rhyme or reason. He gave the justification that more young aspirants are pursuing their studies to the Master’s level, so raising the age limit would enable more candidates to compete. This change will also attract youth from the backward areas and poor families who are not able to complete their studies at a stretch.

There is a strong possibility that raising the cut-off age may produce more thunder than rain. The higher age limit need not deter bright candidates. Statistics might prove after a few years that the brightest among the 28-30 bracket were not better equipped to beat the cream of those under 28. There is a silver lining though in so far as age relaxation might attract the brightest who had opted for other professions to finally have a go for the central services. The less privileged candidates or those hailing from the rural areas are in no way guaranteed to score better than their competitors who are better prepared at a younger age.

Interestingly, the proposal for increasing the age limit was gathering dust in the Prime Minister’s Secretariat for months because the top echelons of the civil service were reportedly opposed to the change. The maximum age of 28 was considered eminently reasonable by them.

In the end, the rulers scored another ‘victory’ against the mandarins. But considering the systematic damage done to the civil service over the years, this development is only a minor setback to the much maligned but essential top bureaucracy.

The rulers – both civil and military – have tried to whittle away the steel frame developed by the British to administer the Subcontinent. Today’s administrative service is a mere shadow of the powerful structure inherited in 1947. Bit by bit, its power was diluted to the benefit of the rulers. They like nothing better than a weakened permanent bureaucracy to serve at the master’s whims.

Those at the helm never seem to realise that weakening of the administration – district management or the police service – also means weakening of the state writ and inevitable deterioration of law and order, accompanied by a phenomenal rise of mafia rule. If weakening of civil structures means rule of assorted gangs then the cost of pushing the bureaucracy against the wall is not really worth it.

A majority of our legislators, who avoid attendance in the assemblies unless the PM or the CM is present, are mostly busy manipulating the administrators. How can anyone run police, education, health or other government departments when elected representatives exert their energies on getting teachers and officials transferred or try to block those very transfers?

The police are receiving a great deal of criticism for failing in their very basic duty to apprehend criminals. A high-profile murder in Islamabad last week was followed by media reports suggesting that the investigation was hampered by powerful families linked to the killers.

This raises the question that if the police in the federal capital are incapable of pursuing a clear murder case, what Herculean obstacles people in the interior of the country must face in getting killers and other criminals brought to justice.

This is a minor expose of how the administration has been emasculated and mafias strengthened in the Islamic Republic. Our worthy ministers, MNAs and MPAs are least concerned about rule of law in their constituencies as long as their own interests are safeguarded. If the police exercise their duties, political heavyweights are ready to sponsor raids to free the offenders from police custody.

Our state and society presently face two grave threats: terrorism and corruption. Neither can be tackled successfully without an attitudinal change in governance. Each pillar of the state – executive, legislature and the judiciary – must perform its duties on a war footing.

The first two must shun their ideas of controlling civil servants. Like the Quaid suggested, civil servants should be allowed to carry out their functions. The prime minister and the chief ministers can help bring this attitudinal change by issuing clear instructions and leading by example. The Chinese proverb about the fish rotting from the head was never as relevant in our context as now.

The issue is not the cut-off age of recruiting for the CSS. It is about making them carry out their functions conscientiously.

Email: saeed.saeedk@gmail.com