DND Report
After sullying Pakistan for over 70 years through prevailing civil bureaucratic governance and conducting several experiments to find shortcut solutions for better governance, at last, the state has recognized that Pakistan and the current “commoners-based civil bureaucratic structure” cannot go together. Ironically, replacement of the redundant system with a better one is not on the agenda; rather government is trying to revamp it without going through major surgery.
The generalist kind of bureaucrats have not only tumbledown the country but also earned a reputation of a country where foreign investors, particularly from the Middle East and the Gulf, are shy to invest unless Pakistan goes through a comprehensive overhauling of its present bureaucratic structure. There are fears that a powerful civil bureaucracy would neither allow the state to touch the “Central Superior Services (CSS) Examination” entrance point nor to overhaul the Establishment Code and would keep putting the government into a maze of more experiments.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, on July 11, 2025, again expressed his desire to revamp the civil administrative system. He was quite blunt over this issue during his first tenure as PM (PDM government) and held a live conference with federal secretaries and told them categorically that the majority of them were not working for the country but only for their perks and privileges. His admonishment did not bring any results. Bureaucrats keep following the “business as usual” practice. Pakistan’s bureaucracy has zero tolerance for several issues, including the new system of hiring by replacing the CSS Examination, which is based on memory and British Raj standard English quality that is now available for free in AI applications. A lower level of Analytical thinking is another component of the examination that is also available in smartphone apps such as ChatGBT or DeepSeek.
The most unwanted and disliked practices among bureaucrats are the induction of practitioners and experts of subjects. Establishment Code, also known as Esta Code, is the toolkit of bureaucrats to get every decision in their favour; therefore, bureaucrats have not allowed any government to touch/amend, or change. So it is unlikely that PM Sharif could change the system. Any shortcut to redesign the civil administrative structure without changing the criterion of induction in civil bureaucracy and with the prevailing Establishment Code would end without appropriate results, and only certain cosmetic changes would appear.
The process of induction of bureaucrats is very interesting in Pakistan. A candidate passes a competitive examination, then goes for an interview, psychological test, etc. A final merit list is prepared based on the combined results of the written exam, psychological assessment, and interview, and then candidates are allocated to one of the 12 occupational groups based on their preferences and the merit list. In Pakistan top priorities of candidates are the Pakistan Administrative Service Group (PAS), the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), Customs, the Foreign Office, and the Office and Management Group (OMG). Almost every candidate wants to get one of these top groups, irrespective of their educational background, interests, and expertise. A doctor by profession wishes to be a Police Officer or an Assistant Commissioner, and a physics master’s degree holder can get a Foreign Service. After allocation of cadres, young officers go for training in the academy, and this training is not for two or three years, but rather a nine-month training, and an expert in the field is born who leads the country in the specific cadre till retirement.
Since the PM Sharif team comprises generalist bureaucrats of PAS (formally known as DMG), they can promise the PM a blue lagoon that would eventually end with the illusion of green grass. The core team that is assigned to change the ‘system’ belongs to a cadre that is truly ‘generalist’ and ‘expert in everything’. A Secretary who heads Finance knows everything about Finance until he/she is transferred as Secretary of Science and Technology or Communication, and within a night, he/she becomes the best person who knows everything about Communication or Science and Technology.
PM Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif believes that reforms are needed in the civil bureaucracy to increase the efficiency of ministries and get services from experts from every sector. Will bureaucrats allow PM to hire experts?; is a question that would determine the situation soon.
PM Sharif during the July 11, 2025, meeting said that the system, which has been run for seven decades, cannot lead to Pakistan’s development, and Pakistan’s economic development and prosperity are not possible without adapting the outdated system to modern requirements.
He recently sent a team to the UAE to learn from their experience, and he has also talked with the Azerbaijani and several Gulf countries to help Pakistan in redesigning its civil administrative system. He has been trying since 2022 (since his first tenure in the PDM government), but nothing has changed so far. There is no doubt left that the incompetence and incapacity of the system are sinking the country, but the civil administrative tools are not ready to accept their failure and incompetence.
The initiatives taken by PM Shehbaz Sharif to take Pakistan out of danger is an excellent move, but that needs a replacement of the system instead just removing certain parts because the failure of civil administrative system is causing constant burden on military administration that is always available to civil government to use in every kind of emergency.
Pakistan needs an administrative system that can serve the nation in the 21st century because generalist (commoners) bureaucrats have practically failed to cater to emerging realities. Whenever there is a threatening situation arises, such as Covid-19, locust attacks, floods, or earthquakes, politicians through civil administration call the Pakistan Army using Article 245 of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan. Neither the civil bureaucracy nor the politicians, except PM Shehbaz Sharif, are ready to accept that the incompetence of the civilian administrative system they run. Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) is also not bearing fruit because foreign investors are not ready to invest and stay in Pakistan, which, according to them, is run by an incompetent and allegedly corrupt civil administration. When systems encounter obstacles that prevent them from completing tasks within established parameters, they often resort to unconventional strategies to overcome these challenges. This “hustling” reflects a resourceful approach that prioritizes results over adherence to traditional rules or guidelines. While this adaptability can lead to effective outcomes, it may also raise ethical considerations, as bending or breaking rules can sometimes lead to negative consequences.
An article titled “Tides of change: Pakistan-GCC agricultural collaboration” claims that foreign investors have been demanding that Pakistan improve legal protections for foreign investments, clear and consistent administrative policies, and a system that can ensure a politically harassment-free environment for foreign investors.
In an article titled ‘Time to throw rotten eggs out of the basket’, the writer believes that Pakistan needs a qualitative administrative system, while the current format of administration is producing handicapped civil governments, corruption, unemployment, and poverty.
In the article titled ‘Incompetency is more dangerous than corruption‘, the writer believes that global experiments indicate that incompetency is more dangerous than corruption, and several empirical studies are available to confirm this claim.
Another article titled ‘Pakistan’s Economic Survival and the New Administrative Contract’ claims that Pakistan can no longer bear the cost of experiments as the country is already running by taking loans to repay its loans while offering jet-black, fully-loaded SUVs to its bureaucrats who are not ready to even withdraw half of their medical facilities. The writer claims that the administrative power of the government is a “Superclass” that is ruling the country without being afraid of answerable to anybody, even to the Public Accounts Committees of the Parliament.
