This is apropos a Business Recorder op-ed “Civil service reforms” carried by the newspaper yesterday. The writer, Farhat Ali, has argued, among other things, that “The biggest challenge to reforms stems from the political leadership heading the government that tends to judge the civil servants entirely on the basis of their political loyalty and their subservience to the dictates of political leadership”.

Arguably, the incumbent PTI government has launched the biggest civil reforms ever attempted in Pakistan. The government is therefore required to understand that the current bureaucratic system cannot be dealt with by administrative reform because civil services tend to be heavily influenced by political and social environment. This initiative actually demands a whole-hearted and unconditional political support.

TEHSIN FAROOQ (ISLAMABAD)

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021