Masood Mufti carried the reputation of an upright civil servant who, to the best of his ability, served the country in the capacity that he chose for himself. Excelling in the art of literary reportage Mufti was a teacher, a person who lived a textbook life, with eyes firmly set on defined goals.

When he joined the civil service the first admonition that he received from the director of the Civil Services Academy was of regret that the younger minds were leaving teaching to join the civil services. But Mufti was far too unwavering for a public servant – a doer meant to create opportunities where there were none, to seek a pragmatic approach in furthering administrative assignments. As an idealistic prodder, the observance of rules took priority for him, one that he waded through, protecting himself from taint, stain and blemish. Eventually he escaped to work in an international organisation, where he worked till his retirement. He never reached the upper most tier of government administration.

Perhaps the greatest test for him was when he was posted to East Pakistan as education secretary ahead of the fall of Dhaka. He was taken prisoner there and hauled from one camp to another for more than two years before he, like others, got back to his country. The hardship that he endured in Dhaka was to serve as the raw material for much of his writings later on.

His book Doe Minaar, which was published just a few months before his death, is a comprehensive study of his own life calibrated against that of his country. He passed away on November 10, at the age of 78.

In the book he writes about the reasons for the country going awry and one of the pressing reasons seems to be related to the concept of personal integrity. He writes that it is the lack of personal integrity that has led to the downfall of the country. He writes that the basic value structure of the society, public or private, religious or political is being manipulated to promote one’s own cause.

Like many other civil servants before him, Mufti believed that the system introduced by the colonial administration instilled in the administrators the value of putting others before personal good. The system of selection of administrators was above reproach and the ethical grounding was solid enough in that the mould was strong enough to withstand the onslaught of temptation. But it was a simplistic view for he failed to place the colonial administrative system, no matter how many its achievements, against the larger socio-political and economic reality of an independent country. Perhaps the new reality, with its own power dynamics, needed another system to pull things through.

The Pakistan created in the name of Islam was closely witnessed by Mufti in its various stages. In the initial years, it was just the appearances - things like clothes and hairstyles - that were deemed contrary to ‘religious’ values. With time, the overall situation went downhill dramatically. According to the author the problem was a general lack of character building, that is, the ability to think or ghor karna. He was of the view that it was the gradual exclusion of the pursuit of knowledge and a deeper understanding of things from the essentials of faith that caused the general downfall of the society.

Mufti, despite all his travails, found the lack of husn-i-intezam as being the primary shortcoming. He thought that if this was corrected things might start going right in the country.

Mufti’s writing style was realistic, almost like reporting, which is why he considered a major portion of his writings to be reportage; though he had written many short stories and at least one novel.

It is said that most writers write about what they “know” but the difference is in the genre they prefer to write in, which can be anything. Mufti preferred to stay solidly realistic, almost journalistic, in his writings.

He continued with the British colonial tradition of being the ‘administrator writer’, i.e. the idealistic writer who joins the public service to attempt at the chance of a good life. Such public servants and writers are not to be found easily in this day and age. The challenges and forces now are qualitatively different, forcing most civil servants to take sides for their very survival. Masood Mufti had a run in service that was challenging and saddled with uncertainty. But he had the determination to come out of it clean and safe, albeit with some bruises.

The writer is a culture critic based in Lahore